Shadows Alight
by Taliax
Summary: Sequel to "Cast a Shadow" and "Another Side, Another Shadow." Just because they're in the Realm of Light doesn't mean everything's perfect. Vanitas and Aqua still have a lot of adjusting to do, but at least they get to do it together. KH3 spoilers ahead, but won't necessarily follow KH3's plot/timeline. Just a few arcs but not a full KH3 fic.
1. Rumor Has It (pt 1)

**A/N: Sorry this is so long in coming! I had a lot of hangups in drafting this, and technically, it still isn't done. It got so long though that I had to split it into a two-shot.**

 **This fic, "Shadows Alight," is going to be a collection of any other stories I decide to put in the CaS universe. This first one is the 200 review bonus fic for the original CaS story. The cover art was drawn by me, and has Vanitas and Aqua in the outfits they got at the end of "Another Side, Another Shadow."**

 **For those who aren't aware, the prompt for the bonus fic was "Everyone finds out about Van and Aqua's relationship after the events of "Cast a Shadow," and they have to set the rumors straight." However, this ended up taking a bit of a different angle, and gaining several side-plots that became more prominent. I hope that you enjoy anyway!**

"You've got everything?" Vanitas asked, hovering over Aqua as she finished clearing out her room in the Radiant Garden Inn. "Food? Shampoo? Wayfinder?"

"As if I'd forget that, Van." She laughed and zipped up her small blue backpack, one of the products of their shopping trip a few days ago. Vanitas himself had picked out a matching red one, now that he couldn't just store things in dark corridors, but he'd left it in his own room.

"What about you?" Aqua asked. "Did you decide what you're going to do for the weekend?"

 _Guess I won't need that backpack after all._ Vanitas leaned against the bed, trying not to show his disappointment. He hoped that she would change her mind and let him come at the last minute, despite the fact that her trip was supposed to be girls-only.

"I'll probably just hop around a few worlds, cause some chaos, spread some Unversed. You know, the usual." He cracked a grin. She shook her head but couldn't entirely stifle her laugh.

"Well, if you get tired of that, I'm sure Lea or Riku would let you tag along with them for a bit."

"I don't need a babysitter, Aqua," he grumbled. Much as he would miss Aqua, if he was going to be alone for a couple of days, he wanted to be just that: _alone._ It felt like years since he'd had any kind of privacy to… what? Despite his joke, he couldn't go around spreading Unversed anymore. Whatever, he'd find something else to do.

"That's not what I meant. I just…" She looked uncomfortable for a moment. "I'm glad to be with you Van, always. But I want you to be able to make other friends, too. I don't want you to feel alone when I can't be here."

Oh. That wasn't much of a surprise. Aqua had introduced him to many of her friends, and it wasn't that he didn't like them. He just didn't have _any_ feelings towards them. Sometimes he wondered if he'd used up all of the positivity that he had on his friendship with Aqua.

"I don't mind being alone," he said, dodging her gaze. "You just worry about helping Kairi and the other Princesses. Sounds like they'd be helpless without you."

"They're not. Kairi just needs a ride, and the other Princesses… well, they do need protection. But they have an important job the rest of us can't do."

Vanitas just shrugged. He'd met a couple of the Princesses, back before… well, before he'd merged with Ventus. _Wonder if they're the still around, or if there's a new batch now. Wonder if Xehanort's still interested in them, too..._

Aqua started towards the door, but Vanitas hung back, still leaning against the post of the bed.

"Van?" She turned and asked. "Are you alright?"

"...Yeah." He held back the Floods that would have betrayed him. He shouldn't be worried; Aqua was the strongest person he knew. She would be fine with the Princesses for two days. She'd been fine on her own for fifty before she'd brought him back. Well, if you counted nearly getting possessed by Xehanort as 'fine'…

"Don't do anything stupid, okay?" It came out more serious than he meant it.

"Only if you don't." She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, softening his frown a little bit. "I'd better not have to come rescue you again."

"Hey, I rescued you first," he argued, but his smile undermined it. "Wait a second. That gives me an idea."

He reached down for the warmth inside him and stretched out his hand. A soft light pooled around his palm, then coalesced into a small Inversed Flood.

"Drizzle!" Aqua grinned as the Inversed leapt up into her arms. "Well, I guess you're probably not the same one…"

"He's made out of the same emotions." Vanitas shrugged and scratched the Inversed between the antennae. "If you can't take me with you, at least take him. If that doesn't break the stupid _no boys allowed_ rule."

"I think he'll be fine." Aqua chuckled. "I bet the Princesses will love him."

"If you let me come, I could make enough Drizzles for all of them."

"Nice try, Van." She flicked his arm before grabbing his hand. "Come on, I'd better get going. Kairi's probably waiting on me."

Aqua paid the innkeeper on their way out. Then she and Vanitas shared one last hug, a too-quick kiss, and before he knew it she was flying away from the inn and into the morning sky. Vanitas stayed staring up into the blue even after he could no longer see her glider.

"Aye, what's the long face fer, lad?"

"Huh?" Vanitas looked around for the source of the strangely-accented voice. He nearly jumped when he looked down and saw a older-looking duck smiling up at him.

"Ach, no need to be startled!" The duck chuckled, then squinted. "Why, ruffle my feathers… Sora! When did ye get back in town? And where's me nephew Donald gone off to? He's always been a tad hot-headed, but I'd think-"

"Look-" Vanitas bit his tongue before he could call the old duck an idiot. That was still proving a hard habit to kick. "You've got the wrong guy."

The duck suddenly smirked - a weird look on a bill - and took off his top hat, using it to hide their conversation. Vanitas didn't think that was necessary, but then he saw the bystanders casting glances their way as they passed by. He had to remind himself that that was probably just because he was talking to an _anthropomorphic duck,_ and not because they feared or hated him.

"Ach, I see. You're on a secret mission, aren't ye? Or just trying to hide from yer fans?"

"Wha - fans?" Vanitas frowned. He hadn't realized Sora was such a big-shot.

"You'll have to do more than change the color of yer hair to put off the young lasses around here." He winked.

"...Yeah, whatever. There's only one girl I'm worried about, and she just left." As soon as Vanitas said it, he wished he could take the words back. What was he doing, spilling his guts to a random stranger? Stupid duck.

"Miss Kairi was in town?" The duck asked, replacing his hat on his head.

Was she supposed to be Sora's girlfriend? Vanitas didn't know, and he didn't particularly care.

"No," he snorted. "Her name's Aqua. She just left to go help Kairi, though." He wasn't allowed to say much more than that; apparently the meeting with the Princesses was supposed to be a secret.

The duck looked momentarily stunned, but then he shook his head quickly and cleared his throat. "Ach, I hope you'll excuse me mistake, lad. I should know better than to trust everythin' folks say at me ice cream shop. Speakin' of which, ye should drop by if you get the chance. Me nephews have come up with some new flavors since I last seen ye."

"But I-" Vanitas never got the chance to insist to the duck that they'd never met, because he tipped his hat and started waddling away.

"...Whatever. Ice cream does sound good, I guess. Not like I've got much else to do..."

XXX

"This place looks like it hasn't changed at all," Aqua said as she landed her glider in the courtyard of the Castle of Dreams. The miniature Drizzle hopped off of her head, stumbled, and fell into the pond at the center of the courtyard. Kairi giggled and disengaged her pink keyblade armor.

"Thanks for the ride, Aqua. I'm sure I'll get the hang of making my own glider soon."

"I'm sure you will too." Aqua smiled back. The younger keyblade wielder had proved a quick learner so far; it had taken herself far longer to even learn how to summon her armor.

Aqua carefully pulled the Flood out of the pond, then frowned as the Inversed shivered, wrapping its tiny arms around itself. Could Inversed get cold? Well, stranger things had happened. She dried him off with her skirt-wrap, where he then found his way into one of the magical pockets the fairies had created for her. That was probably for the best; cute as he was, he might startle the Princesses if they saw him without an explanation.

Memories flowed through Aqua's mind as she and Kairi walked up the stairs to the grand doorway, then into the castle proper. _These hallways… This was one of the last places I saw Terra._ It felt like both a million years ago and just yesterday.

" _Aqua. You still have the same dream?"_ She could still remember his voice. Still remember how deeply she'd believed in him. And now… she might have been the one to destroy him.

"Aqua?" Kairi asked. Only then did Aqua notice the girl was several paces in front of her. She shook her head, trying to force out the thought.

"Coming."

They were late after all. In the Ballroom, the other six Princesses were already all gathered and chatting amiably.

"Oh!" Cinderella was the first to see them. "Kairi! And… no, it can't be."

"You know her?" Snow White asked.

"...I believe so," Cinderella said, though she looked unsure. It was understandable. Aqua had begun to age again since leaving the Realm of Darkness - and it seemed she was aging faster, as if her body felt the years it needed to catch up on - but she still looked nearly as young as when they'd last met.

"We have." Aqua smiled. "It was the day after the ball where you met the Prince. I had, uh… barged into your house." She winced. While the story had turned out alright, in hindsight there was probably a more tactful approach she could have used. But it had been her first time out of the Land of Departure. She'd thought she knew everything then. It was almost funny now, looking back.

"That's right!" Cinderella smiled brightly. "If it weren't for you, I may not have escaped my room in time to meet the Duke. How wonderful of you to visit again."

"Please, the pleasure is mine." It was only then that Aqua remembered she was in the presence of Princesses; she gave a small bow.

"Hey, there's no need for that. We're all among friends here," said a Princess Aqua didn't recognize. She had warm brown eyes and wore a plainer outfit than many of them, a simple blue dress with a white apron. A younger girl stood by her side in a very similar outfit. Were they just related, or was the young girl a Princess too?

"Besides, if we all stood around curtseying at each other, we'd never get anything done," said a tan woman in a turquoise outfit. She seemed to be the only one wearing pants out of the group, which Aqua could appreciate. "Speaking of which, what exactly _are_ we here for?"

"You don't know?" Aqua frowned. She hadn't even heard what the exact purpose of their meeting was. Mickey had just told her that Kairi needed a ride, and that the Princesses could use some extra protection. He'd seemed reluctant to even say that much. But how had Mickey known about this if the Princesses themselves didn't know?

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" A kind, higher-pitched voice said. Aqua looked back towards the entrance of the ballroom, where a familiar, pink-dressed mouse had entered.

"Your Majesty," Aqua and Kairi said in unison, Kairi curtseying while Aqua took a knee.

"Oh, come on," the tanned Princess muttered.

"Aqua!" Minnie called when their eyes met. She hurried over and gave Aqua a warm hug while they were still on the same level. "Mickey told me all about what happened. I'm so happy to see you're back and safe."

"I'm happy to be back too."

Minnie released her from the hug; she stood up again, feeling conscious of how they all towered over the mouse queen. Minnie didn't seem to mind, though.

"Thank you for lending your castle for this meeting, Cinderella," she said. "I would have summoned you all to Disney Castle, but Maleficent and this new Organization might have expected that. This world is much safer."

It was true that Aqua hadn't seen any Heartless since arriving, even before they had entered the castle. From what she and Van had seen in their travels, that was becoming a rarity.

"But what _are_ we here for?" The older of the two blue-dressed Princesses asked.

"And who are _you?"_ The younger one asked, peering at Minnie while squatting with her hands on her knees. "I haven't seen anyone so curious since I last visited Wonderland."

Minnie laughed a little self-consciously. "I suppose I haven't properly introduced myself, and I'm afraid I don't know all of you personally, either. Let's take a moment for names, and then I'll explain everything."

XXX

Vanitas could hardly believe it. It was wonderful, heavenly - it was _perfection._

It was a bar of light blue sea-salt ice cream, and it lasted about ten seconds. The only evidence of its brief existence was a wooden popsicle stick, licked clean. Vanitas stared at it, as if he could will more ice cream back onto it.

"You sad you didn't get a WINNER? Nah, old Scrooge doesn't have that deal at his shop…"

Vanitas looked up to see a tall redhead standing next to his booth in the ice cream shop.

"Lea? What are you doing here?" Vanitas frowned. The man sat down across the table from him, then unwrapped his own ice cream bar. Sea-salt, just like his had been, even though the duck's shop offered other flavors.

"What do you think?" Lea waved his bar before taking a bite with a loud _kronsch._

"Yeah, right, you just _happened_ to show up here at the same time I did. Did Aqua send you?"

Lea raised an eyebrow. "You mean she's not with you?"

Vanitas sighed. Maybe he _did_ feel something towards Aqua's new friends - annoyance. But he'd give them a chance, if only because they'd helped her fight her darkness.

"She's off on some girl business with Kairi." He shrugged, eying Lea's ice cream enviously. Maybe he'd buy another bar. He was supposed to be conserving his munny - Heartless in the Realm of Darkness never dropped any, so he only had what he'd earned since coming back, which wasn't much. But if he was on his own for a couple days, he could always make time to fight more Heartless.

"Ah, that explains a lot. I was wondering where she'd gone off to." He took another bite, but kept talking. "Flying solo too then, eh?"

"...Yeah." It wasn't a big deal, but a little of his disappointment still crept into his voice. Even in spite of the delicious ice cream, things were just _boring_ without Aqua. She would have teased him for how excited he got over the frozen treat. Maybe he would've finally told her why he liked it so much, how it reminded him of home. His _real_ home, back when he was Ven. Eons ago.

"Sheesh, don't look so heartbroken. I'm sure they'll be back soon." Lea grinned. He had no idea that Vanitas had been thinking about ice cream as much as Aqua. "You really do like her, don't you?"

"Yes," he answered a little too forcefully. Just in case Lea was getting any ideas.

"She told me a little about you, y'know." That perked his attention; Lea laughed. "Don't worry, it was all good things. Didn't tell me you were practically a clone of Sora, though."

" _Sora,"_ Vanitas muttered. "I keep hearing about him."

"Yeah, well I'd get used to it if I were you. Pretty much everyone around here loves him. He's the kind of guy even you'd have trouble not liking."

"Even me?" He glared. Lea took another bite of ice cream, seemingly unfazed.

"It's no secret that you're not exactly the friendly type."

His glare probably wasn't helping that impression. Ugh, why was being light so hard?

"You don't even know me," he said defensively. Not that he should have to defend himself. It didn't matter if Lea thought he was friendly or not.

"Exactly!" Lea gestured with his ice cream bar, flinging blue drops on the table. "All I know is what Aqua's said about you. And while I trust Aqua and all… there's some things that just seem a _little_ suspicious."

"What things?"Vanitas braced his hands on the table, leaning forward. Other customers at the ice cream shop looked towards them. Or maybe they already had been, especially if any of them thought he was Sora. So he hissed more quietly, " _What things?"_

Lea rested his elbows on the table, then looked back and forth, as if to check for eavesdroppers. It was probably too late for that. It didn't matter; Vanitas didn't have anything to hide. He hadn't done anything wrong… well, not in the last twelve years. Surely no one here remembered his past? No, they couldn't, and if they did, he looked completely different with his mask off.

"Well for one, aren't you a little young for her?" Lea asked, taking him by surprise. He raised an eyebrow.

"How old do you think Aqua is?"

"Early twenties, at least," Lea said easily. If Vanitas had still been eating ice cream, he would have spit it out.

" _Twenty?"_ He laughed, then did a little bit of math on his fingers. "Technically, she's about thirty now. And I'm about twenty-eight."

That time, Lea _did_ spit out his ice cream. " _Thirty?_ She-"

"Spent twelve years in the Realm of Darkness." Vanitas grinned. "It's good for your skin."

"...I was going to say she's older than me…"

"So? She's older than me too." He shrugged. Age hardly seemed to matter anymore after the Realm of Darkness, though he had started to notice his body trying to play catch-up. He might have to find someone to ask how to shave if it kept going.

"You got any other concerns about me dating her?" Vanitas didn't know much about dating - well, anything really - but he figured he wasn't supposed to have to deal with this. Still, it was better to get it over with now than deal with him talking about them behind their backs.

"Well… there _is_ something Riku and I have talked about."

So apparently it was already too late for that. Great.

"Then spit it out. I've got stuff to do." That wasn't true, but Vanitas was tired of this conversation already.

"Alright, fine," Lea said. "It's your eyes. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, for Aqua's sake, but most of us who know better don't trust them."

"My - you don't trust me because of my _eyes?"_ Vanitas snapped the ice cream stick in his hand. "Fine, let me just _change my eyes_ for you."

Technically Aqua could do that for him, he realized, but he didn't want to. His gold eyes were a part of him whether they'd come from the darkness or not. Besides, he'd already gone through the effort to ditch the dark suit, to control his Unversed, to not insult all the losers Aqua had picked up - and they _still_ found a reason to hate him. Why was he surprised?

"Look, it's not that simple," Lea answered. His ice cream was melting onto the table, but he didn't seem to notice. "There's been a bunch of Norts cropping up everywhere. From what we've seen, all of 'em have those yellow eyes of yours."

Vanitas clenched the broken half of his ice cream stick, biting his tongue to keep himself from snapping something he'd regret. But despite biting his tongue, he didn't bite back his negativity in time. His anger at Lea, his hatred for Xehanort, his fear of being attacked for who he was - they all took the form of Red Hot Chilis that escaped his heart.

Lea jumped up, dropping his ice cream on the floor. Vanitas was too busy trying to recall his monsters to steal the discarded dessert.

"Vanitas-!"

"I didn't-!" Forget it, Lea wouldn't care if he explained himself. All he would see was Vanitas summoning a bunch of monsters as soon as he was accused of being a Xehanort. For all Lea knew, he'd just proven that rumor true.

The man was already summoning a keyblade. Other customers were screaming and fleeing the shop.

"Now you've really done it, Vanitas," he muttered to himself before summoning his own keyblade. Its turquoise eye seemed to stare at him accusingly.

Lea jumped back, away from Vanitas and the Chilis, but he shouldn't have bothered. Vanitas didn't want a fight - well, he did; his blood boiled with it. But thoughts of Aqua brought him back to his senses. What would she say if he destroyed a innocent ice cream shop?

So instead he used his keyblade to create a portal of light and dove through, unsure of where he'd even sent himself to. In spite of the danger, his main thought was that the old duck probably wouldn't let him buy ice cream anymore.

XXX

"You want us to… what?" Aurora asked Minnie. All nine of them - the seven Princesses, plus Minnie and Aqua - were seated around a large dining table within Cinderella's castle. Servants had been kind enough to bring them water and pastries to snack on while they discussed the important task they were faced with.

"Pass on your powers," Minnie repeated. Murmurs passed through the group of Princesses. Drizzle stirred in Aqua's pocket at the noise; she reached down and patted his head to calm him.

"Is that even possible?" Kairi asked, voicing the question on Aqua's mind. "I thought that Princesses of Heart were born that way."

"Often it works that way," Minnie said. "I believe you're an example of that, Kairi. Mickey said you had a great light even when you were very little."

Kairi blushed a little at that, but Minnie kept talking.

"There are other ways that women can become Princesses, though. And ways that they can stop being Princesses."

"How do you know that?" Jasmine asked, arms crossed. She had seemed rather suspicious throughout this whole meeting. Aqua supposed she'd be suspicious too if someone asked her to give up her light.

Minnie smiled. "This may surprise you, but I was a Princess of Heart once."

Everyone went silent. Glasses stopped clinking, mouths stopped chewing. Minnie… a Princess? It made sense that she _could_ be; she was certainly the kind of person Aqua could see as a Princess of Heart. But that brought up even more questions than answers.

"...So you found a way to pass on your power to one of us?" Belle asked.

"Precisely. In fact, our dear Snow White holds the light that I once protected."

"Me?" She held a hand to her chest.

"Yep! When I released my pure light, it found its way into another worthy young lady. That happened to be you."

"But, Your Majesty - _why?"_ Aqua asked. "Why would you willingly give up being a heart of pure light?" She would have been safe from the darkness, from Xehanort, from herself. It would be like - like giving up a piece of yourself, wouldn't it?

"It was a difficult time, Aqua," Minnie said, her voice a little sad. "I don't usually speak of this, but I'm much older than I appear. Mickey and I have lived through many threats to the light. There were times before now when the Princesses had to pass on their powers to hide them from the darkness."

"To hide them… so you believe we're in danger again," Belle said.

"Unfortunately, yes." Minnie sighed. "I'm sure you all remember Maleficent and Ansem."

"As if we could forget," Jasmine said, while several of the other Princesses shivered and whispered together. Kairi's eyes grew dark.

"Yes. Well. Both Maleficent and Xehanort - Ansem's real name - have been spotted again."

Snow White let out a short shriek, then clamped her hands over her mouth. Aurora stayed silent, but her face went white. Belle squeezed Alice's trembling hand. Even Jasmine and Cinderella, who had both been relatively calm the whole time, looked shaken.

"Please, don't be frightened," Minnie said soothingly. "This is why we're here. Maleficent and Xehanort know who you are."

"But if we pass on our powers - then we won't be targets anymore," Belle pieced together.

"You catch on quickly," Aqua noted, and she smiled.

"Let's do it, then," Aurora said, moving as if to stand from the table.

"Wait, just like that?" Belle frowned. "I don't know. As far as I know, I've always been a Princess of Heart. What could change about us if we give that up?"

"A wonderful question." Cinderella nodded.

"Yes, it is," Minnie agreed. "And one you deserve to know. Without the protection of being a Princess, your heart _can_ be affected by darkness. However, as all of you have stayed so close to the light, that's still unlikely. Oh, and any magic you may have will leave. Except for you, Kairi, since you also wield the keyblade."

"So it's completely harmless?" Jasmine asked after a moment.

"You have passed on your light, Minnie," Cinderella said, leaning forward. "Did you feel different after?"

"Well… a little," she admitted. "But you get used to it quite quickly."

"Hmm." Jasmine frowned. The others also looked uncertain, except for Snow White and Aurora.

"I still want to do it," Snow White said. Her eyes were still darting around nervously, as if she expected Maleficent and Xehanort to appear at any moment.

"...I do too," Aurora agreed shortly after.

"I need some time to think," Belle said, to which the remaining Princesses nodded.

"Very well. It is your decision, after all," Minnie said. "Cinderella, is it alright if we take a break and meet again in an hour?"

"Yes, that will do," she answered at the same time Jasmine said, "An _hour?_ That's all we get?"

"I'm sorry." Minnie frowned. "It isn't safe to keep all of you here together for very long. If any of you already know that you wish to remain a Princess of Heart, I will call Mickey to pick you up and take you home."

"That's fair," Belle replied, taking Jasmine's arm when she looked like she still wanted to argue. The Princesses slowly dispersed, except for Kairi, who stayed by Aqua's side.

"What do you think, Kairi?" She asked as she got up from the fancy table. Drizzle reached out of her pocket just long enough to grab an apple danish from her plate, then disappeared back into the depths of her skirt-wrap. Aqua was just glad he hadn't had any outbursts during the meeting.

"Honestly… I don't know." Kairi sighed. "I understand why we need to hide the Princesses from Xehanort. I _won't_ let them kidnap me again. Still… I'd feel bad passing my power on to someone else."

"Because you wouldn't be you anymore?" Aqua asked. The two began walking out and down the hall, leaving Queen Minnie looking over a stack of notes in the dining room.

"No," Kairi shook her head, "I'll always be me. I don't think whether I'm a Princess or not changes that. But what if I give my light away, and someone _else_ gets kidnapped because of it?"

Aqua stopped, looking into Kairi's face. Her eyebrows were drawn together, her bangs falling over her eyes.

"It's a hard decision, isn't it." Aqua didn't know what else to say. She didn't even know what she would choose, if it were her responsibility. Actually… she suspected she would choose to keep her light. After everything, she was too afraid of losing any more of it. But then again, if she had been a Princess, she never would have lost any light in the first place. Besides, she was still fine. Wasn't she? She'd chosen to accept her darkness; she couldn't go back now, even if doubts still occasionally tugged at her.

But this wasn't about her. It was about Kairi.

Aqua put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "What is your heart telling you to do?"

"What is my… hmm." She frowned as she focused. "I think my heart says… do do what Sora would do."

"And what's that?"

"Well… Sora's always looking out for everyone else. No matter what it takes, he's always there to help them. To help me." Kairi smiled. "He would keep being a Princess, so he could use his powers to help others. And I know he'd be strong enough to fight off Maleficent and Xehanort if they came for him."

Aqua laughed. "I bet Sora would make a great Princess."

Kairi blushed, but she giggled too. "He would. And… I think I will too. Now that I can use the keyblade to protect myself."

"I think you'd make a great Princess, keyblade or not. But you're right. You'll do a great job of keeping the light safe."

Kairi took a deep breath, then let it back out and grinned. "Alright, then it's settled. I hope Minnie won't be disappointed."

"I'm sure she won't be. But we've still got…" Aqua looked at the clock on the wall, "forty-five minutes until we need to go back. In the meantime, I better see what the other Princesses are up to. I _was_ hired to protect them, after all."

They shared a grin - which disappeared when a loud _CRASH_ echoed through the castle. Drizzle leapt out of Aqua's pocket, crumbs still around where his mouth would be, and took off towards the sound.

"Drizzle!" She called, summoning Stormfall. Destiny's Embrace appeared in Kairi's hands a split second later.

"The Princesses!"

Aqua's face heated; of course that was the more important concern. Drizzle would be fine. But if the castle was being attacked while all seven Princesses were here, that couldn't be a coincidence.

Aqua ran towards the sound, hoping she wasn't already too late.

 **A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger; this was the best place to split the chapter. I'll try to get the second half finished soon!**

 **The lore behind the Princesses of Heart was inspired by someone on tumblr who suggested that as the reason that the new trailer talks about the "new seven hearts." Unfortunately I can't for the life of me remember who the post was by, so if anyone knows, let me know and I'll give credit here C:**


	2. Rumor Has It (pt 2)

**A/N: This chapter could also be titled "Tali is a liar because this story needs 3 chapters not just 2"**

 **Basically what I mean is sorry**

Vanitas rose to his hands and knees, spitting dirt out of his mouth.

"Stupid light portals…" A dark corridor would have been way less likely to drop him out above the ground. "Stupid Dark Wind, not letting me use them anymore... "

Stupid _Lea,_ for making him have to run in the first place. He felt a few stings of pain as his Unversed were destroyed, though thankfully they were dulled by the distance between worlds. Which brought up the question… which world _had_ he sent himself to?

He stood, brushed the moss and dirt off his blue-and-grey pants, and looked around. Trees towered overhead, their branches tangling together to block out the sun. Only a few patches of dappled light made it to the mossy ground.

"Dwarf Woodlands," he remembered. This had been one of his favorite worlds - he supposed it still was. Not too many people, plenty of dark forests. Cozy and ominous at the same time. No wonder his random portal had decided to throw him here.

He sat down on a fallen tree trunk and rested his head in his hands, taking a couple of deep breaths to ensure no other Unversed would burst out of him. Though, if there was any place to let them out, it was here. No one would have to know…

"No," he told himself, digging his fingernails into his scalp. He might think he was alone here, but who knew if any of those other keyblade wielders were lurking around? Riku, Kairi, Sora… and if any of them got a whiff of his Unversed, they'd think the same thing Lea did. That he was just another vessel of Xehanort, still ruled by the darkness.

"It doesn't matter what they think," he told himself, but his voice lacked conviction. It _did_ matter what they thought if they decided he was a threat. If they tried to kill him. How well did he really know any of them? They'd been with Aqua for over month; he'd only been back for a couple of weeks, if that. What if they turned her against him? What if that's why she was off with Kairi right now?

"Don't be stupid. Aqua's smarter than that." _That_ was something he could believe. He pulled his Wayfinder out of his pocket - a new one Aqua had made him within the first few days of his return. In spite of his previous insistence that it should be just like his old one, he ended up agreeing to one more similar to her own. Delicate silver metalwork kept each piece of deep red glass in place. He knew that her magic had worked again, because he felt safer just holding it. No more Unversed would come out right now.

But the question was, what _was_ he going to do now? Just avoid Lea forever? The man would talk, and even if he didn't, plenty of people in the ice cream shop had seen him summon the monsters. Could he just avoid _everyone_ forever? Go back to his life before the Realm of Darkness?

 _Go back to being miserable,_ he thought with a snort. No, he wasn't going to let Lea or anyone else force him back into that life.

"I need to find Aqua." He rubbed the Wayfinder with his thumb; it glowed at the mention of its creator. "She'd tell them all I'm not a Nort."

But he'd promised her he could take care of himself for a day or two; he couldn't bother her right in the middle of her mission. He put the Wayfinder back in his pocket.

Suddenly another idea came to him - Lea had mentioned something about rumors. What if he tracked down the source of those rumors himself? If he could figure out who was making up lies about him, maybe he could prove himself innocent.

"Not that I should _have_ to prove anything," he muttered, but felt the irony as he said it. Of _course_ he had to prove himself. These people had no reason to trust him, just like he didn't have much reason to trust them… except that they _had_ helped Aqua before.

Maybe she'd been onto something, asking him to make friends with them. If they got to know each other, they'd know that he wasn't a Nort.

"I guess… it's still not too late to try. The others better not be as stupid as Lea…"

XXX

Aqua and Kairi rounded a corner, dashing into a dead-end hallway. She had expected to see someone from the new Organization XIII, or Maleficent, or some other threat. Instead, standing near the wall were an old wizard and a frowning redhead.

"Oh, my. Terribly sorry about this racket. My teleportation spells are usually _quite_ accurate." Merlin waved his long wand, and the shards of glass scattered around his feet reformed into an elegant blue vase.

" _Merlin?"_ Aqua asked. "What are you doing here? And-"

"Lea!" Kairi shouted. "I told you, I didn't need you to come babysit me!"

 _Now who does that sound like?_ Aqua thought, hiding a laugh. Lea winced, but Merlin cut him off before he could say anything.

"Ah, Aqua! Exactly the person we wanted to see. Lea here had something important to tell you."

"Me?" Aqua asked. "What's going on?" She wanted to ask how they even knew where she was, but that could wait.

Lea walked up to her, not quite meeting her eyes. That look made her stomach sink already.

"Lea, tell me what's going on," she demanded more forcefully. Even Merlin looked uncomfortable now, tapping his wand in a quick rhythm against his palm.

"Look, I didn't want to be the one to tell you this," Lea started.

"Well you're _going_ to tell me." She employed the tone she used to take with Terra and Ven, when they would team up together to hide something from her. Lea caved a little quicker than those two would.

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you. Your boyfriend just attacked me."

Aqua stared, understanding the words but not believing them.

"Van… just _what?"_

Lea crossed his arms. "You heard me."

Aqua wasn't sure she did. Sure, Van could be temperamental sometimes, but just attacking people for fun? He didn't do that. ...Well, not anymore, at least.

"What did you do to him?" Aqua asked, trying to keep her voice calm. "Where is he now?"

"I didn't do anything!" Lea said, then grimaced. "Well, maybe I said yellow eyes usually mean you're a Nort. But I didn't say he _was_ a Nort."

"Axel," Kairi said in exasperation, "you can't just jump to conclusions about people like that. Vanitas hasn't hurt any of us."

"Hey, I said I didn't! He was the one who attacked _me!"_

"There must be some kind of mistake," Aqua said, trying not to blame Lea while she didn't have all the facts. "But you didn't answer my other question: where is he _now?"_

Lea ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know. He made some kind of portal and disappeared. Not before leaving behind a bunch of monsters, though."

"You think he used a dark corridor?" Kairi asked.

"No, he wouldn't." Aqua shook her head. "He's as afraid of the Dark Wind as I am. I taught him how to make portals of light, like I use with my glider. He could be anywhere…"

She turned her back on the others, thinking. Why would Van attack Lea rather than just having a conversation? Why would Lea imply Van could be a Nort in the first place? She thought the man would be more understanding, considering his own dark past. But maybe that also made him less trusting.

Merlin cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for both of you, my dears. If you need some magic to bring Vanitas or Sora to their senses, I would be happy to help, but I'm afraid otherwise I am of no use at the moment."

"Sora?" Kairi's eyes widened. "What's happened to Sora?"

"Hmm? Oh, well I thought you knew! I'd heard - well - oh, there is no place for an old wizard to meddle in the affairs of the young. Lea, we'd best be off."

" _Merlin,"_ Kairi insisted.

"You'd better not get between her and her boyfriend," Lea told the old wizard. "Besides, I'd like to hear what you know too."

"He's not my - oh, nevermind." Kairi sighed. Merlin adjusted his glasses nervously.

"Yes, well, that's what I heard. That Sora was… well, with someone else. But, perhaps I heard incorrectly. I shouldn't have worried you, my dear."

"With someone else?" Kairi's brow furrowed. "Sora's always off on adventures with other people."

Aqua saw what Merlin meant, even if Kairi didn't. But unfortunately, she didn't have time to deal with Kairi's love life right now. She needed to know what happened to Van.

"Lea, Merlin, stay with Kairi and the other Princesses. I'm going after Van."

"Wha- I thought this was a girls only job!" Lea protested. Aqua gave him a sharp glare.

"Well, you should have thought about that before you crashed it." She tapped her shoulder pauldrons to engage her armor; it surrounded her in a flash. She was about to summon her keyblade to form her glider too, when another thought occurred to her.

Where was Drizzle?

XXX

Vanitas stared over the edge of the floating island, where clouds swirled and reflected sunset colors. Almost like his homeworld, back when he was Ven. But unlike that world, this one always felt _off_ to him. Probably because of Yen Sid's magic. That magic had made it impossible to leave many Unversed here, back in the day. He wondered if it would keep him from accidentally summoning any now.

He took a deep breath and walked to the front doors, pushing them open before he could change his mind. Hopefully Riku would be here. If not, maybe Yen Sid could tell him where he was. Not that he wanted to talk to the old sorcerer; his piercing stare reminded Vanitas far too much of Xehanort's.

He ascended the spiral stairs, wishing more than ever that he could use dark corridors. The portals of light didn't work over short distances; Aqua had explained it was because they traveled through space in the same realm rather than cutting through the Realm of Darkness, or something like that. Vanitas didn't understand the details. All he knew was that it meant he had to climb these million stairs manually, with worries about Lea and Aqua and even Xehanort trying to break into his mind.

A few doors branched off of the main spiral. Vanitas hardly noticed them as he passed - that was, until he heard voices filtering out from under one. Without a second thought, he pressed his ear up against it.

" _Oh, it's no use. He still won't eat a thing."_

" _Do you think it's too late?"_

" _Now dears, we can't give up that easily! Lea is counting on us."_

" _Well it isn't our fault he won't wake up. Our magic couldn't do that for Aurora, so what makes him think it would work now?"_

The voices dissolved into squabbling, but by now Vanitas could recognize them as the three fairies. Good thing he'd kept on the plaid clothes. But what were they doing in there that was so important to Lea?

 _If I can't find the source of the rumors yet, at least I might have something to fight back with,_ he thought as he kept listening.

" _I'll have none of this! We'll try again tomorrow, and the next day if we have to. Come now, let's report to Yen Sid."_

" _Oh, alright…"_

Vanitas pressed himself against the wall, hoping the door would hide him when it opened. The door didn't open, though; instead three orbs of light slipped out from under it, then quickly floated up the stairs.

"Now that would be a nice power…"

Quietly he turned the knob and pulled open the door. Once he slipped inside, he saw an unfamiliar blue-haired man lying on top of a simple wooden bed. At first Vanitas thought he was asleep, but then he noticed the man was staring up at the ceiling with unblinking eyes. Unblinking _gold_ eyes.

"Saix," Vanitas whispered. The member of Organization XIII that Aqua had helped rescue. The one she'd said was Lea's friend. "Why would he be friends with a Nort, but not trust me…?"

Whatever the reason, Saix obviously wasn't a threat now. Other than the shallow rise and fall of his chest, he seemed completely immobile. Vanitas waved his hand back and forth over the man's eyes, just to be sure. Not a twitch.

"What are you, some kind of zombie?" Vanitas said. "...They haven't helped you at all, have they."

He sat on the edge of the bed, still searching Saix for any signs of life, of light. So many keyblade wielders passing through here, and none of them had been able to get Xehanort out of him?

"You don't even smell _that_ much like darkness. Maybe I could…" Vanitas placed a hand over the man's chest, letting light pool around it like he was making an Inversed.

Saix hissed. The sudden noise startled Vanitas, but he kept his hand in place. The rest of the man's facial expression hadn't changed; his eyes were as dull as before.

"Don't like the light, do you?" Vanitas kept it flowing. If Xehanort didn't like it, then obviously he was doing something right.

A force pushed back. His light dimmed; he didn't have the same kind of power as the last time he'd attempted something like this. It had taken two Wayfinders in addition to his own strength to exorcise the Dark Wind from Aqua. What made him think he could remove Xehanort's influence on his own?

But… if he _could_ do this, it would prove to Lea and everyone else that he wasn't a Nort.

So he tried again, gripping his red Wayfinder this time. It didn't have any light stored within it, but it gave him courage anyway. Then he summoned his positivity: faith, determination, hope for a world without Xehanort.

The light seemed to slide off of Saix's dark coat, like oil fleeing water. But Vanitas kept trying, refusing to let go of his hope. Liquid light kept flowing, flowing…

 _It's not going to be enough,_ he realized. Not if it wouldn't sink in. He needed something else, more than just a desire to get rid of Xehanort.

 _A friend. If Saix wakes up, could he be my friend?_ It was a surprising thought - surprising that he actually cared. But if Saix _did_ wake up, he would know what it was like to be used by Xehanort. He wouldn't judge Vanitas for his eyes. Would he?

 _Only one way to find out._ He rolled his shoulders and went back to work.

"Come on…" He muttered as his light tried to pool again, only to slide off. "Work with me, Saix… you don't want that old geezer in your heart…"

It didn't seem to be making a difference. Then, inexplicably, the light began to sink in. Not just sink; it was as if it were being _pulled_ into Saix's chest.

The man roared. Was that a bad sign? Was Xehanort being driven out, or was he waking up?

"Please don't be Xehanort, please don't be Xehanort, please don't be Xehanort…"

He kept the light coming; he wasn't sure he could have stopped if he'd tried. Saix was drawing it in… consuming it? Vanitas didn't know, but he was feeling emptier and emptier…

And then something _snapped._ Not inside Vanitas; inside Saix - but Vanitas still felt the whiplash of it. Like his light had broken through some kind of barrier.

"Ughhh…" Vanitas slid off the bed, slumping against it on the stone floor. Had it been worth it? He'd been completely drained, sucked dry of light. He didn't think he could make even the tiniest Flood Inversed right now.

"Nngh…" Saix groaned. Vanitas's first instinct was to hide under the bed, but he figured he should see if his plan had worked. Cautiously, he peeked up over the mattress.

The blue-haired man was attempting to sit up, though he was doing a rather bad job of it. His arms gave out each time he tried to push himself up.

"Don't waste your energy," Vanitas said. The man's surprise was nearly enough to jolt him upright, but he plopped back on his pillow immediately afterward.

"Where… where am I?" He asked, then brushed his fingertips against his lips. "I… I can speak again…"

"You're in the Mysterious Tower," Vanitas replied, feeling some of his energy return to him. It had worked! Wait til Lea found out about _that!_ "I just got Xehanort out of your heart, by the way. You're welcome."

"Nnn… no," Saix said distantly. "You gave me… an opening. To hold him off. He is…" He winced, "still here…"

Of course. Saix's eyes were still gold. Vanitas should have known that.

He scowled. "Well how do we get him out for good?"

Saix shook his head. "I don't know. It may not… be possible." It was only then that Saix took a good look at him - and flinched as if he was seeing a ghost.

"You. Xehanort claimed you too?"

"I'm not a-!" For once, Vanitas bit back the Unversed in time. The negativity boiled inside him, but didn't bubble over. He took a sharp breath. "I'm not a Xehanort. My eyes have _always_ been like this."

Saix scowled. "That is a pitiful excuse for a lie, Sora. I may have been controlled, but my memory was not wiped."

"How many times do I have to tell you people, I'm not _Sora!"_ Vanitas shouted. This time, a Bruiser half-formed from his outburst. He was only able to stop it from fully materializing because of its size; the bigger Unversed always took a few seconds longer to form.

Saix's glare hardened, looking almost as terrifying as the old Xehanort himself. Stupid, stupid! Why did Vanitas think he could make a friend on his own? And with a _Nort_!

Vanitas summoned his keyblade, ready to flee for the second time today, when Saix's eyes glazed over.

"No," he whispered. "No, no, _no…"_ He let out a low moan, looking nauseous.

"...What?" Vanitas tentatively asked, though he kept his keyblade ready.

"He's coming. He's coming. If Sora is still alive in you at all… put an end to me."

Vanitas had no idea what Saix was talking about, but those last words still shook him.

" _I'm asking you, as a friend... Just...put an end to me."_ Ventus's last words to his friends. Vanitas had felt them when they merged; he remembered scoffing at them at the time.

"Look, I'm not killing anyone anymore. Except Xehanort," he clarified. Saix looked up in confusion.

"But you-"

"I'm not Xehanort, either!" Vanitas snapped. _Obviously, since I tried to get Xehanort out of you…_ whatever. The man's mind was probably still rattled from being possessed. "Is he the one you were talking about?" He realized suddenly. "Is Xehanort coming here?"

Saix nodded somberly. Vanitas cursed.

"Then we need to get you out of here. If you're not going to try to kill me." Vanitas opened a portal with his keyblade. He didn't really want to go anywhere with this crazy man, but Lea _would_ kill him if he let his friend go full-Nort again.

Saix paused to consider, which honestly, it didn't sound like they had time for. Especially when three orbs of light came floating up from under the door.

"Okay, thinking time's over." Vanitas tossed his keyblade out the window, hoping it had enough room to fly back in glider form. It did, but it scraped the stone edges on its way in.

"Vanitas?" The green-dressed fairy transformed from one of the orbs, taking her human-sized shape. "What are you doing?"

"He's stealing Saix!" The blue-dressed one said as she appeared.

"What? No, you-!" Vanitas bit his tongue. Whatever, he didn't have time to explain, not if Xehanort was on his way. With the dark corridors, he could be here any moment.

Vanitas roughly shoved Saix off the bed and onto the glider, which looked similar to Ventus's - a flat design made to ride standing up, with two wings shaped like the teeth of his keyblade. Plenty of surface area for Saix to hold onto. Now, if only Vanitas could fit _himself_ on there -

"Quick, stop him!" The third fairy called. The three of them stood between him and the portal.

"Everyone _has_ to be difficult," Vanitas muttered, grabbing onto the side of his glider. "For the record, I'm actually sorry about this."

Then he commanded his glider to fly forward, crashing past the fairies and into the portal.

XXX

"Drizzle!" Aqua called, though she had no idea if the small Inversed would respond. He wasn't exactly the same one she'd named before; what if he wanted his own unique name? That was the latest in a line of far-fetched theories as to why she hadn't found the Flood in her near-hour of searching.

Kairi placed a hand on her arm. "We'll have to go back to the meeting soon, Aqua."

"But…" Aqua sighed. Kairi was right; she _had_ promised to protect the Princesses, and she couldn't just shove that responsibility off on Lea, even if she just wanted to find Drizzle and go look for Van.

"I'm sure Vanitas is fine," Kairi said gently, seeming to read her thoughts. Of course, Kairi might have heard how she reacted the last time she lost Drizzle. It was hard not to remember now.

"I know," she said, more to reassure herself. "I just wish I understood what happened with him."

"Lea isn't exactly tactful," Kairi said. "Maybe he thought he was helping somehow."

"I can't imagine _how."_

"Well… I don't know. But he didn't give up on Saix, even after he was under Xehanort's control. And even after he kidnapped me," she added a little huffily, then shook her head. "There must have been reason."

Aqua hadn't had time to press Lea further, since they had split up to look for Drizzle. Maybe the redhead had found him already. It was a slim hope, but one she held to as she and Kairi navigated the castle halls back to the dining room.

Which, when they arrived, they found completely empty. Even Minnie was missing.

"Shouldn't the other Princesses be back by now?" Kairi asked, brow furrowed.

"They should…" That was when Aqua noticed Minnie's notes. The papers that had once been neatly stacked were now scattered across the far end of the table and on the ground. And come to think of it, there were no servants in sight, either…

"Come on," Aqua whispered to Kairi, her heart rate quickening. Surely nothing had happened, but still… if something _had_ happened, while she'd been too focused on her own problems…

 _Less time thinking, more time running._

The whole castle seemed empty, now that she was looking for signs of life. Her footsteps echoed loudly, even when she kept to the carpeted strips at the center of the halls.

Suddenly Kairi stiffened, then stopped in her tracks.

"The Ballroom. I feel something coming from there."

Aqua nodded, trusting her senses as a Princess of Heart. They went looking for the nearest stairwell to take them down a floor, but stopped short when they came across someone on the way. Standing in front of the stairs, one leg still raised in mid-step, was a maidservant carrying a silver tray of food. That wouldn't have been out of the ordinary, except for the fact that she was completely motionless.

"That's a Stop spell," Aqua said, keeping her distance and scanning their surroundings. "It would take a strong mage to pull off something like that for long."

She didn't say what she was sure they were both thinking: this time, the Princesses were in danger for real, and there was no way of knowing if they were already too late. But late or not, they were going to find out what had happened.

Kairi moved to slip past the frozen servant, but Aqua shook her head.

"We'd better not enter the ballroom from the front. I think I know a different way."

She led Kairi back through the halls, taking a narrow branching corridor that eventually led to a small antechamber.

"We're definitely close," Kairi whispered. Aqua could see a curtain on the far wall that would open up to the balcony.

"Are you ready?" She asked, and Kairi nodded, summoning Destiny's Embrace. Aqua summoned Stormfall, then crept out onto the balcony.

She gasped when she looked down. The remaining six Princesses were all present - and each was trapped within a cage formed by bars of blue light. How had this happened? Where was Minnie? Where were Lea and Merlin?

As her eyes scanned the ballroom, she saw no sign of them - but she did see someone else sneaking out from behind a pillar. Despite his attempted stealth, his spiky black hair was impossible to miss.

"Is that-?" Kairi asked, and Aqua nodded somberly.

 _Van, I'm sure there's an explanation for this… but it had better be a good one._

 **A/N: Because of the way some of the time and perspective jumps are working, it makes the most sense to cut it here. I'll try my best to finish the last section soon!**


	3. Rumor Has It (pt 3)

**A/N: Thanks for your patience with this, guys! Here's the last chapter of this arc! It starts out where Vanitas left off, which is a little before where Aqua's POV ended timeline-wise.**

Vanitas shivered, but didn't dare wrap his arms around himself for warmth. He was too busy clinging to the side of his glider for dear life. Why in the Void had he decided to help Saix, again? The man hadn't moved since they'd entered the Lanes Between, but Vanitas was worried he would slip off of the glider at any moment. His limbs flopped over the edge, swaying limply with the glider's motion.

 _I've gotta land soon. Don't want to find out what happens if we fall in a place like this, now that I can't rely on the darkness to protect me…_

He shivered again, from that thought as well as the cold. Even the dark corridors didn't feel as freezing. Or was that just because he wasn't wearing a full-body suit anymore? He never thought he'd miss that. Maybe he should get one of those black coats like Saix was wearing; that looked pretty warm. And it was plaid-free, too.

But outfit swaps would have to wait. They were coming up on a world… _Tch, Radiant Garden. Can't go back there yet…_

"Where… are you taking me?" Saix finally mumbled.

"Still working on that," Vanitas answered.

His sense of direction in the Lanes Between wasn't great - another thing he didn't have to worry about in the corridors - but he remembered passing by the Castle of Dreams on the way from Dwarf Woodlands. That would be as safe a place to hide Saix as any.

"Can you stand?" He asked. "Wait, nevermind. Don't want you falling down there. We'll be there soon."

"Be… where? I feel him… closer…"

That wasn't a good sign, but Vanitas was flying as fast as he could. Without risking throwing Saix off or losing his own grip, anyway. Before long, the Castle of Dreams came into view.

"Hold tight. This might get a little bumpy."

He made sure that Saix got a better grip before taking them into a shallow dive. A portal shot from the front of the glider, allowing them to pass through the wall surrounding the world.

When they landed in the castle's courtyard, Vanitas dropped from the side of the glider and rolled out his sore shoulders.

"Remind me not to do that again…"

Saix didn't move from the glider. He lied there as if he were unconscious again until Vanitas shook him.

"Hey. You still in there?"

Saix stared straight up at the afternoon sky, but his lips formed words Vanitas could barely hear.

"He is here. You brought me to him."

"Xehanort's _here?"_ Vanitas asked, scanning the courtyard and taking a deep breath. His sense of smell had never recovered completely, but he was sure he should have been able to detect the old geezer. He'd always smelled like dust and mothballs, with a touch of vinegar… okay, now that he was looking for it, that _could_ be a hint of vinegar on the wind - but it was far overpowered by the antiseptic scent of pure light.

"Princesses," he muttered, scrunching up his nose. He could appreciate Aqua's light, but so many hearts of untainted light in one place could give him a headache.

Wait. Xehanort _and_ the Princesses?

Vanitas instinctively summoned Void Gear - which resulted in his glider disappearing, dropping Saix to the ground. The man grunted in surprise.

"Kill me," he mumbled, placing a hand over his heart. "I won't go back to him."

"I've got a better idea. We kill _him_ instead."

Saix looked up, more surprise showing in his yellow eyes. "How are you doing fighting him? Xehanort's influence… it cannot be shaken off so easily."

"I _told_ you, I'm not a Nort," Vanitas said in exasperation. "And I'm not Sora, before you go off about that too."

"...Who are you, then?"

Vanitas's face reddened. In all his effort to explain who he wasn't, he'd never thought to say who he was.

"Name's Vanitas. I'm… a friend." That felt right as he said it. He held out a hand to help Saix up, but the man looked at it with skepticism. Vanitas huffed. "Look, do you want to get rid of Xehanort or not?"

Slowly, Saix nodded. His grip was weak as he accepted Vanitas's hand. Vanitas heaved him to his feet.

"Ngh, looks like Xehanort fed you, at least. I can't drag you around if we have to fight." He lifted his keyblade, casting Curaga with decent form. Aqua would have corrected his stance by a few degrees, but it worked well enough. Saix stood up a little straighter.

"I am not certain I can fight," he said. "I am nothing… nothing but an empty husk holding Xehanort's heart. My will is all that prevents him from taking control of this body once more… I do not know how long… I will last..."

"Great," Vanitas muttered. What was he supposed to do, babysit him _and_ try to fight Xehanort? Wait… if the Princesses were here, then Aqua should be, too. She might know how to help him, having fought off Xehanort's control before. If she wasn't already fighting him off again - he cursed.

"Aqua, I'm coming." He took off towards the castle, only slowing when he saw how Saix struggled to keep up. "Ugh… why don't you find somewhere to hide?"

He shook his head. "He will find me."

Restraining the impulse to curse again, Vanitas reached for his positivity. It had regenerated a little since healing Saix, but not by much. It probably didn't help that deep down, he was absolutely terrified to fight Xehanort. But he could ignore that for now. Right now he needed feelings of speed, the rush of wind in his hair, the thrill of zooming on his glider -

One was all he could get. One Inversed Glidewinder. But that would be enough.

"Hop on." Vanitas pointed to the light blue-and-yellow creature. Saix blinked at it blankly. Vanitas was running out of patience for the zombie, but he couldn't risk letting out any Unversed now.

" _Please,"_ Vanitas practically begged. "This isn't just about Xehanort - I have a friend in there. I have to get to her before he does."

"...Someone you care for," Saix said quietly. "I wonder how that feels…"

But he finally got up on the Glidewinder. He had to crouch awkwardly to keep his balance as he held to the key on its head. Vanitas would've laughed, if he weren't too busy fighting down terror.

They ran and glided towards the castle as quickly as they could. Luckily, this place hadn't changed in all the twelve years since he had last visited. He could still remember spying from the vaulted ceilings as Terra and Aqua destroyed his Unversed. Aqua… this had been the first place she had fought the monsters. He still remembered the pain of her light…

He shook his head, still running. He was only remembering that because of the scent of light currently searing the insides of his lungs. The Princesses had to be close, but it was difficult to pinpoint them exactly; the smell suffocated the whole castle. So much for his nose being broken…

"Up there." Saix pointed to the top of the grand staircase. His face was paler than before, making his X-shaped scar stand out even more. "He's there. One of him. I think… another is near."

 _More_ Xehanorts. A gang of Scrappers wanted to burst out at the thought, but he took a deep breath and held them in. Bad idea. He gagged on the smell of light, then pulled the collar of his jacket up over his nose.

 _Vanitas, you've had a lot of stupid ideas, but this has got to be the stupidest._ Did he think he could take on Xehanort alone, much less _multiple_ Xehanorts?

 _No. I won't be alone. I bet Aqua's fighting him already._

At that thought, he dashed up the stairs. Saix followed on the Glidewinder, though if the man could have controlled the Unversed himself, he looked like he would be fleeing the opposite direction. Not that Vanitas blamed him. His heart thudded in his chest as he approached the ballroom.

 _So much light…_ His eyes confirmed what his nose already knew: all the Princesses were here. Well, all except Kairi, it seemed. That was good news, considering all of these Princesses were trapped in glowing cages. Where was Aqua? There was no way she would have let this happen.

Panic spiking, he closed his eyes and reached out to connect with the Flood Inversed he'd left with her. Thankfully, he felt it quickly - _too_ quickly. The Drizzle was in this room, he was sure of it. But then where was Aqua?

"Oh!" One of the Princesses shouted. Vanitas didn't think they could see him from their angle, but he dashed behind a thick column just in case. The Glidewinder followed in spite of Saix's obvious discomfort. His blue hair was practically bristling.

"Please, come back!" The Princess called as a small figure darted out through the bars of her cage. Vanitas grinned.

"Come here, little guy, come on."

The tiny Flood dove into the floor, sliding across the blue floor in the form of a white puddle. When it got close, it popped out and tackled Vanitas's foot.

"Glad you're okay," he said, scooping it up in his palm. "Wait, no. You were supposed to be with Aqua! Where is she? Why didn't you tell me Xehanort was here?"

Saix frowned in concern, but Vanitas ignored him. He didn't have time to explain why he was yelling at a creature barely the size of a mouse.

His Inversed were better at following orders than answering questions - in fact, they could barely answer questions at all - but Drizzle tried. Vanitas felt fragments of emotions filter through their link. _Worry, curiosity, danger, trapped._ Then it gestured frantically towards the right side of the ballroom.

Heart stopping, Vanitas carefully peeked out from behind the pillar. He expected to see old man Xehanort himself stepping out of a dark corridor. But he didn't see anything.

"I didn't give you a big enough brain, did I."

The Flood's antennae twitched agitatedly before it pointed with both arms towards the wall again.

"Look, there's nothing-"

The Flood scrambled up onto his shoulder, then pushed his head so he was looking higher up.

"-oh."

Standing on the balcony were Aqua and Kairi. Relief flooded him. She was safe; Xehanort hadn't gotten to her. That only left one question: where _was_ he?

Before Vanitas could call to her, Saix ended up answering his question.

"We need to hide. _Now."_

When the man with a direct link to Xehanort said that, Vanitas didn't ask questions. Though if it really _was_ Xehanort coming, where could they hide? This pillar was all the cover they had, and -

"Ah, Saix. We had a feeling you'd come crawling back eventually."

A young silver-haired figure emerged from the stairwell, tailed by another floating cage of light. Inside was - Mickey? No, that didn't look quite right.

To Saix's credit - and though it seemed to cause him physical pain - he snarled for all he was worth. "I will crawl to you no more, Xehanort."

" _Xehanort?"_ Vanitas did a double-take. The young man was tan and had gold eyes, but the resemblance ended there. It wasn't even Terra's body, like Vanitas had half-expected. Had the old man taken over yet another idiot?

The young man peered at him, seeming to see into his heart. Vanitas forced himself not to flinch. He did discreetly reabsorb the Drizzle though; he might need to channel the positivity into a more combat-ready Inversed.

"It appears the Master finally succeeded with you… mostly." The man - Xehanort? - frowned. "Your heart is hidden from me. We still have work to do with you yet, Sora."

"I'm not-!" Vanitas bit his tongue. For once, he needed to use his head. If this Xehanort thought Vanitas was one of them, maybe he could buy some time for Aqua to rescue the Princesses. _Then_ he could punch Xehanort in the face.

But something still didn't add up. If this really was Xehanort, why didn't he remember Vanitas? He knew it had been twelve years, but was he really that forgettable?

 _Stupid. You don't_ want _him to remember you._ He cleared his throat.

"I don't _need_ work," he said, scowling. "I'm enough of a Xehanort to help. What are you doing with the Princesses?"

Saix's eyes widened, but Vanitas couldn't reassure him. Hopefully the man would realize that he was just acting now… and not think that he'd been acting before.

"We are to transport them directly to the Master. Yet we are still one short. Xigbar was supposed to be tracking her, but it appears he became… incapacitated." Xehanort frowned. "I will have to take matters into my own hands. Keep watch on the Princesses and this wayward vessel until I return. Ah, and this mouse as well. She proved quite troublesome."

He lowered the levitating cage to the ground, where Vanitas could get a better look at its unconscious occupant. Vanitas thought he might recognize her… didn't she live in that ridiculous Disney Town?

"Sure - I mean, of course, Xehanort." Vanitas didn't know how the Norts interacted with each other; hopefully he wasn't supposed to bow or anything. He didn't care how desperate the situation was, he wasn't going to sink that far.

But Xehanort just turned and walked away. After all the fear and rage Vanitas had held back… he was just leaving. Part of him wanted to chase the young man down and fight him anyway. But he knew it would be stupid; young-looking or not, he couldn't take on Xehanort one-on-one.

"Traitor," Saix hissed. Vanitas forced a smirk.

"You didn't really believe that, did you? Come on, we've got some Princesses to save."

XXX

Aqua didn't breathe until the young silver-haired man was gone. She hadn't been able to make out his words from her distance atop the balcony, but she didn't need to. She could sense his darkness from here.

He was a Xehanort. And Van had been talking to him. Not to mention the fact that Van had brought _Saix_ here, of all people. Something was very, very wrong. She didn't want to think the worst, but… maybe Lea _had_ been onto something. If Xehanort had managed to capture six of the seven Princesses from right under her nose, it wasn't a stretch to think he could have gotten to Van while she'd been away.

Her hands trembled at the thought. If he'd gone through what she had… _I'll be there to bring him back. Just like he was there for me._

Face hardening with determination, she summoned Stormfall, then handed it hilt-first to Kairi.

"What-?"

"In case I don't come back," Aqua quickly explained. She didn't have much time; Vanitas and Saix were already heading towards the group of cages, the floating one the other Xehanort had given them in tow. "Use it to make a glider. Get off this world, go to Yen Sid."

"But-"

Aqua summoned Master Keeper, then forced a smile. "Don't worry. I've got a backup."

"But you can't fight them both on your own," Kairi insisted. "Let _me_ be your backup."

Aqua shook her head. "I'd love to, Kairi, but they already have six of the Princesses. If they capture you too, we've already lost."

Kairi didn't look happy about that, but Aqua had bigger concerns. She could only hope that the younger girl would listen. The fate of the Worlds could depend on it.

 _Is there ever a time the fate of the Worlds_ isn't _depending on us?_ Aqua wanted to sigh, but protecting the Worlds was the duty of a Keyblade Master. Even if that duty included fighting someone she loved… _again._

Not allowing herself any more time to think, she leapt from the balcony. A small Doubleflight softened her landing right before her boots touched the ground. Not soft enough that Vanitas didn't hear, though. He looked up from where he was fiddling with the light-bars on Alice's cage.

"Aqua." He grinned - a real, genuine grin, not a smirk. Aqua's heart fluttered. Could Xehanort fake that if he were controlling him? "I thought I told you not to do anything stupid."

"What are you doing here?" She demanded. Normally his words would have made her laugh, but not under these circumstances. For all she knew, _he_ was the one who'd done something stupid.

He winced, but then covered it with a glare, so quickly she could hardly tell if she'd imagined it.

"Doing your job, apparently. Where's Kairi? Aren't you supposed to be protecting her too?"

 _Where's Kairi?_ That could've been a perfectly harmless question… or Xehanort trying to get the location of the last Princess out of her. But how could she know? Van's eyes _were_ already gold…

"You okay?" He asked, head tilted slightly. "If it's what I said about doing your job, sorry. I've had a pretty sucky day. That's not supposed to make it okay, is it…" He muttered a curse to himself. Despite him knowing how she disliked swearing, he was still having trouble kicking the habit.

"That's not it, Vanitas."

He stiffened. His gold eyes were wide, and innocent as they could ever be. She wished she could believe them, wished she didn't have to be so paranoid.

"Aqua… you talked to Lea, didn't you." His voice was equal parts hurt and angry. Definitely leaning towards angry. Saix, who she hadn't been paying attention to, perked up from where he was working at Jasmine's cage.

"Lea…?" He murmured, seeming to come out of a trance.

"Yes," she answered simply, not knowing what else to say. Her brain was still searching for a way to prove that Van wasn't being controlled. Because if he was, then theoretically Xehanort would have access to his memories; he would know her weaknesses…

"And you _believed_ him?" Van shouted. Alice flinched further back in her cage; Aqua's hand tightened around Master Keeper.

"Van - I don't know!" She shouted back, tears pricking her eyes. "All I know is that _Xehanort is here_ and you were talking with him! What am I _supposed_ to think?"

"I _thought_ you would trust me!" Through her own blurry eyes, she could see tears begin to glisten in his. That… Xehanort couldn't fake _that,_ could he? Despite paranoia telling her she might be making a terrible mistake, she reached for Van's hand. With her other still holding her blade. Just in case.

"I _do_ trust you." She tried her best to keep her voice calm. "It's Xehanort I don't trust. He got me once, remember? It could happen to any of us."

"Yeah, but I don't see anyone else getting called a Nort behind their back," he muttered venomously. She hadn't heard that tone from him since the beginning of their time in the Realm of Darkness. It brought back the impulse to fall back on her pride, to argue the way she had before. But it wouldn't help any more now than it had then.

"Van, I'm sorry. I don't want anyone to think you're with Xehanort, either. But-"

"But it's my eyes, isn't it," he spat, jerking his hand out of her grip.

"What? Van, that's - no!" She shook her head. "Why in the Worlds would I think that? You had gold eyes before all this. _I_ even had gold eyes before."

He looked back up at her, and his shoulders relaxed visibly. "Then - then why are you so mad at me?"

"Mad? Van, I'm not mad, I'm - I'm terrified." She laughed, releasing some of the tension that had been building in her lungs. "I know how it felt to have Xehanort in my heart, even for just a brief moment. If that happened to you, and I wasn't there to stop it-" Light, now she was _really_ going to cry. She was supposed to save that for after they were out of mortal danger - which they might still be in, if the other Xehanort got back. Or if Van really _was_ a Xehanort… but her heart, which she desperately wanted to believe, was telling her that he wasn't.

"Dang it Aqua, I hate it when you cry," Van said softly, taking her hand again. "And I hate it even more if it's my fault. I'm sorry I scared you. But I promise you, I'm _not_ a Xehanort. Void, that's what a Nort would say, isn't it… Aha!" He grinned, then held up his free hand. Slowly a pool of white welled up in his palm, then became a little blue-eyed Flood.

"Drizzle," she said, meeting Van's eyes with a smile.

"I'd like to see a Nort do _that."_ He smirked back, gold eyes sparkling. _His_ gold eyes - no one else's.

Aqua dropped Master Keeper, which clanged against the marble floor as she pulled Van into a tight hug. He chuckled and placed the Drizzle on her shoulder before hugging her back.

The sound of someone clearing their throat startled her into letting go.

"If you value your lives, I suggest we leave," Saix said. Standing around him were all six of the Princesses, freed from their cages. And - was that _Minnie_ in his arms? The mouse queen was unconscious; Aqua could only imagine what Xehanort had done to her.

Aqua scowled and quickly crouched down to scoop up her keyblade, but Van stopped her.

"Wait, he's a friend. He let the Princesses out so we can rescue them."

"I'm not sure I would say 'friend'... Acquaintance, perhaps," Saix said.

"Whatever." Van rolled his eyes. "Since when do you form full sentences?"

Jasmine smiled and patted Saix's arm. He flinched visibly before regaining his original stony expression.

"Since I cast the rest of Xehanort out of his heart. It's too bad though, your eyes were so pretty before. Just like my pet Rajah's."

Aqua and Van shared a look that communicated all of their surprise and confusion in about two seconds. Saix's face may have turned a shade pinker. She took a closer look at his eyes - they were blue-green now rather than gold. She relaxed a little as Saix cleared his throat again.

"What part of _if you value your lives_ was unclear?"

"I'm with him," Belle said, and the other Princesses nodded their agreement.

"There's just one problem," Van said. "We can't carry…" He did a mental count, "nine people on two gliders."

"One glider," Aqua said. "I lent mine to help Kairi escape."

"Great…" Van muttered.

"Also, um… I would appreciate it if we could get that man out of my Castle," Cinderella spoke up.

"Oh. Of course." Aqua should have thought of that first. They couldn't just leave a Xehanort here unchecked. "Van, can you get the other Princesses out of here? I don't want them to get hurt if… well, I'd just feel better better if they're safe."

Van stared back at her, his hands on his hips. "I'd feel better if I know _you're_ safe. And considering the last time we split up…"

"Fair enough." Aqua grimaced.

"Saix can take the Princesses. He may sound like a jerk, but I can smell him. The Nort's all gone."

She would have pointed out that she could tell from his changed eyes, but figured Van wouldn't appreciate that.

Saix sighed. "For all of our sakes, I won't ask. However, I would like to know how you think I should escort the Princesses from here. It will not be safe for me to form dark corridors."

"I'll take care of that." Van summoned his keyblade and held it out horizontally. A pulsing bluish portal shot from the tip of Void Gear -

And was immediately sliced through by a blue beam of magic.

"An interesting ruse, Sora. Far more clever than I'd thought you capable of."

Aqua's heart stopped as the unidentified Xehanort stepped into the ballroom. Several of the Princesses shrieked, though Jasmine looked ready to stomp up to the young man and punch him. Saix laid Minnie on the ground so that he could take up a fighting stance, but he didn't yet summon a weapon.

"Yeah, well maybe if you paid attention, you'd get that I'm _not Sora,"_ Van spat, holding Void Gear above his head and stretching out his hand. Though her hands trembled, Aqua called Master Keeper back and assumed her own stance.

 _I can do this. I'm not alone this time._

"And what a pleasure to meet you, Aqua," the Xehanort continued, ignoring Van. "It's a shame you failed to join our number. Your friend still misses you dearly."

"Terra?" Her breath caught. "He's still alive!?"

Xehanort used her moment of surprise to teleport close, knocking aside her blade with one he'd summoned in the blink of an eye.

"Get away from her!" Van roared, striking down on his unprotected back. That gave Aqua enough time to summon her blade again and shove back.

"She's important to you, is she?" Xehanort sprang back with a smirk. It was difficult to hear him over the sounds of screaming - all the Princesses seemed to be trying to hide behind Saix, though he looked eager to jump into the fight himself.

"She's my girlfriend, you-" That time Van _did_ cut off his curse in time. Xehanort's smile grew wider.

"Then I suppose you wouldn't like it if I-" He didn't get to finish that sentence, because Aqua jumped forward and brought her keyblade down on his head. Or tried to - he teleported at the last second.

"Whatever you were going to say, don't count on it," she growled. He was _not_ going to take her again; he _wasn't._

"Yeah. It's three on one, you idiot. And you're like - what, twelve? You're practically a baby Nort." Van smirked. Aqua would've told him to stop taunting the man, but the jab actually seemed to get to him.

"I am Xehanort from the most distant past," he said haughtily. "I am-"

Again, he didn't get to finish. This time it was Saix who lunged forward, summoning his giant backhanded blade and slamming Xehanort into a far pillar.

"You are a fool."

Van grinned. "I'd say idiot, but you know, fool's good too."

"Don't get too confident. This imp may be young, but he is still powerful. We need to get out quickly."

"Won't he just find us again?" Aqua realized, forming a different idea. "We need to do what Minnie said. The Princesses need to give up their powers."

"...That's not sounding like such a bad idea now," Jasmine said. "But she didn't tell us how, and I don't think she'll be waking up anytime soon."

Aqua glanced at Minnie's unconscious form, then towards Xehanort. Despite the crater he'd put into the pillar, he was quickly standing back up. Her heart pounded faster. Could she fight another Xehanort? What if he got inside her head again, inside her heart?

She felt her darkness rise up inside her. Panic struck. She couldn't do this; she couldn't fight Xehanort and herself and herself at the same time; what if he drew on her darkness again?

"I'll take care of Minnie," she volunteered quickly. That was something she could do; something where she wouldn't risk being a liability. "Van, Saix, can you handle Xehanort?"

Guilt wormed in her chest as she gave the request. _She_ should be the one fighting alongside Van, not Saix. Still, she was relieved when Van just grinned without arguing.

"Thought you'd never ask."

XXX

Sure, Vanitas could've gone a _little_ bit longer without a fight to the death, and he could've gone forever without seeing a Xehanort again. His hatred towards the guy wanted to bubble over as Unversed, but he held it in; Aqua still had a Drizzle with her. He couldn't risk his monsters attacking each other again.

Instead of hate, he focused on the thrill of the fight. Power coursed through his blade with each strike and block. Adrenaline flooded his veins with each blow he gave and received. This baby Xehanort put up a better fight than any Heartless, a better fight than anyone he'd taken on except Aqua. He was actually glad to have Saix at his side, even if the blue-haired man occasionally clipped him with the wide sweeps of his blade. He would have rather had Aqua as his partner, but whatever she was up to with Minnie seemed to be working. The ballroom glowed with the combined power of the six Princesses. The light scorched his throat, so he summoned his mask while Saix caught Xehanort in a brutal combo. Vanitas was definitely glad the man was on his side now.

"Giving up yet?" He taunted. Xehanort staggered, pressing his free hand against a gash in his keyblade arm.

"It matters not…" He tried to smirk, but his deep gasping breaths ruined the effect. "The future… has already been written."

He teleported away and reappeared next to the circle of Princesses, his black coat silhouetted against their bright glow. Vanitas dashed towards him, using his own short-range teleportation to close the distance, hoping he would be fast enough -

He didn't need to be. Aqua emerged from the circle of light; her keyblade seemed to burn with it.

"Leave, Xehanort. These Princesses are of no use to you now."

Xehanort chuckled. "Perhaps not. But you could still be-"

"Yeah, about that," Vanitas said as he appeared right behind Xehanort. It was his only warning before Vanitas stabbed Void Gear through his back. "Not gonna happen."

He wished he could see the look on Xehanort's face. He could see Aqua's, though - and her eyes were wide with fear. Unversed swirled in his stomach. Should he not have stabbed Xehanort? Didn't he have to die, if they wanted to save the Worlds?

Xehanort fell to his knees as Vanitas withdrew his blade. There was no blood, only darkness leaking from the wound. Even Vanitas, who'd been a heart of pure darkness, had blood. What kind of monster had Xehanort become? Was he already a Heartless?

Xehanort chuckled, and with his voice hoarse, he sounded just like his older self.

"Now you… _you_ might be a worthy candidate."

He looked over his shoulder, leaving one last impression of glinting yellow eyes in Vanitas's mind. Then he faded away until all that was left between Vanitas and Aqua were wisps of smoke. Her wide-eyed stare started to become unbearable, even with his mask between them. What was she thinking? That he was a monster? That he was as bad as Xehanort? He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.

She was finally distracted by the fading light behind her. The Princesses' glowing auras winked out one by one, until he could finally make out the mouse standing in the middle of them.

"Well done, all of you," the mouse said. "It worked. Your powers should be gone now."

One of the Princesses asked her a question, but Vanitas had already stopped paying attention. His whole focus was caught up in Aqua's shell-shocked face.

"Aqua, I…"

She stepped forward and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I need to get out of here. Now." She took his arm, and her tone grew gentler. "Please."

"Yeah. Of course." He nodded. He spared one last look back at Saix, who was sitting on the ground, dabbing a potion on one of his wounds. His _bleeding_ wound - apparently he was fully free of Xehanort. He'd be fine with the mouse and the Princesses, right? Whatever, it wasn't his problem now. Aqua was.

He summoned his keyblade and got ready to form a glider - just as _Lea,_ of all people, burst into the ballroom.

"Aqua!" He shouted. His fiery keyblade was slack in his hand; his brand-new plaid outfit was spotted with what looked like tiny burn marks. His eyes narrowed when he saw Vanitas. " _You-"_

"...Lea?" Saix said before he could finish. Vanitas could barely pick up his voice over the chattering of Princesses, but Lea seemed to hear him loud and clear, if the way he jumped was any indication.

" _Isa?"_

"...Van?" Aqua whispered, squeezing his arm tighter, though why he didn't know. He'd been the one who'd scared her, hadn't he? "Let's go home."

"Yeah. Let's go."

XXX

He didn't know what she meant by home - they hadn't found a permanent place to live yet. Finding one was especially difficult considering Aqua said she didn't want to live in the same house as him yet. Something about being married and things couples weren't supposed to do and rumors, of all things. He thought it was stupid, considering they'd lived together in the Realm of Darkness for however long and nothing bad had happened. But he'd had enough rumors to last a lifetime, and from the blush on her face, he was afraid it had to deal with the confusing talk she had given him that one time. He was going to have to ask someone else about that - maybe he could ask Saix, as a favor in return for un-Norting him.

The thoughts flitted through his mind, trying to distract him from worries about Aqua. She clung to his waist as he flew them through the Lanes Between. Home. Where was home? Not the Mysterious Tower. He didn't want a lecture from Yen Sid. Radiant Garden was the best bet, then. If Lea was in the Castle of Dreams, then that world should be safe enough.

Aqua didn't say a word until Vanitas landed them on a mostly-intact - and more importantly, deserted - section of the city wall. Then she took a deep breath, laced her hands over the top of her head, and started sobbing.

"Void, I _did_ screw up," Vanitas dismissed his helmet and murmured. Should he go in for a hug, comforting her that way? That usually worked, but usually he wasn't the one who upset her. He decided against it. What _could_ he do? She was just crying and hurting and he _hated_ it, hated that she was in so much pain and it was probably all his fault...

"...I'm sorry I killed Xehanort," he finally said, and his voice even sounded sincere. He _was_ sorry, if that was what had hurt her. Though he couldn't say he was sorry the guy was dead.

"What?" She finally gasped out. "Oh, Van…" he sob turned into a trembling laugh. "Light, I would've killed him myself. If I could have."

"You - what?" He blinked.

"I mean it. I would've done the same thing." Her voice shook. "I don't know if I should be proud of that, but I wanted to. Instead I could hardly fight at all, I… I just… _seeing_ one of them again, so soon after…"

"...You're afraid they still want to turn you," he guessed, putting the pieces together. Xehanort _had_ started to say something about still using her, hadn't he?

"Or _you."_ She wiped her eyes on the back of her glove, but it didn't do much. New tears just replaced the ones she soaked up. "I'm sorry… I didn't trust you completely before. I was just so scared, I - I c-can't lose you…"

He hugged her tightly. "I'm not going anywhere. They'd have to kill me before I'd join them again."

She still shook in his arms; her tears dripped into his hair. "Don't talk like that. Don't talk about dying…"

"Sorry." He winced. "I still suck at words, don't I…"

That got a little laugh out of her. "You're doing just fine, Van. _I'm_ the one who should be sorry… I - I didn't realize how hard this would be..."

"Fighting Xehanort again?"

"I didn't even _fight_ him," she let out in a huff. "All I did was see him, and I still couldn't - I just feel so - so _weak."_

Vanitas's eyes widened.

"You? _Weak?"_ He had to suppress a laugh, though he knew she was serious. "Aqua, I've told you before, and I'll tell you again. You're the strongest person I know. Being afraid of Xehanort doesn't change that. _I'm_ still scared to death of the guy."

She lifted her head from where it had rested against his neck.

"You didn't let it stop you, though," she said. "How did you do it?"

He shrugged. "I guess I was just more angry than I was scared. And making fun of him helped."

She chuckled. He reached up and wiped her eyes with his thumb.

"That's better." He smiled. She held her hand over his, trapping it against her face.

"Thank you." She smiled back. "Next time I'll be ready to fight him. A different one of him, anyway…" Her brows furrowed. "Did you hear what he said, though? About Terra… I wonder if he was telling the truth. If Terra - or Xemnas - is still alive… he's one I can't fight again."

"You won't have to," Vanitas promised, though of course he had no way of knowing that. If it came down to it, _he_ would fight this Xemnas, take the blame rather than letting her hate herself forever. But he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"We managed to free Saix from Xehanort, remember?" He continued. "If anything, that's proof we can do the same thing for Terra."

"You're right - I can't believe I didn't think of that!" Her face lit up; she took both of his hands and squeezed them tightly. "How did you do it? You said you healed Saix part of the way, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I can't explain it, but it was a lot like making the Inversed." As if he'd summoned it, the little Flood he'd made climbed out of Aqua's pocket. It crawled up her shirt and onto her shoulder, perching there proudly. She laughed.

"We're finally getting somewhere. I can't thank you enough."

He shrugged, blushing. "You don't have to. You know I'd do anything for you, and I guess that includes helping your dumb friends too."

He grinned to show he was only joking… mostly. It was a testament to how good a mood she was in that she didn't smack him anyway. Instead she yanked his arms, and he stumbled forward into her kiss.

"Heh… I suppose that's a good enough thanks," he said when they pulled apart. There was still one more thing on his mind, though, in spite of how much better Aqua was feeling.

"But…?" She asked, noticing that something was off. Of course she would; he swore she could read his mind. Maybe the Drizzle on her shoulder was telling her somehow.

"I'm still worried about Lea's rumors," he said, bitterness leaking into his voice. Sure, maybe Lea wasn't the _source_ of the rumors - Vanitas didn't know exactly how they'd started - but it didn't stop him from getting mad at the man. "I hope Saix will tell him how I helped out, but I don't know how to convince everyone else that I'm not a Nort."

"Who else thinks that?" Aqua asked with a frown. He sighed.

"I don't know. At least everyone in Scrooge's ice cream shop. I accidentally let out some Unversed there."

"So _that's_ why Lea said you attacked him," Aqua realized. "He doesn't know about your Unversed."

"Well he does now," Vanitas muttered, stomach churning with guilt. Even if he didn't like Lea, he should've kept in his emotions. No one was going to believe he'd changed if he let monsters of negativity loose everywhere. "I guess I can't really blame him…"

"It's going to be okay." She squeezed his hands, looking into his eyes. "It doesn't matter what he or anyone else thinks - once they get to know you better, they'll see."

"Will they?" He asked honestly. "It's easy to be nice to you, Aqua, but it's no secret I'm... not the nicest guy around. I'm working getting better, but between that and my eyes, I wouldn't expect a warm welcome."

"Maybe I can just threaten them all into accepting you," Aqua joked. Vanitas let out a snorting laugh.

"Advocating violence? Maybe you really did get darker while I was gone," he joked back.

"Hey, I never said I would follow through with it." She smiled, but then sighed. "I don't have a real solution, though. I've never dealt with so many other people myself. It was always easy to put out rumors with Terra and Ven; those never lasted more than a week."

They both fell silent, watching the sun set over the city as they thought. An idea came to Vanitas, but it wasn't one he liked.

"What is it?" Aqua asked, noticing his frown. He wasn't sure if he should even suggest it, but… if she thought it was a good idea, then he'd go through with it.

"You could always change my eyes. With your magic."

She blinked at his suggestion. He did his best not to squirm, to hide his eyes from her. He couldn't take even the short moment of silence, though.

"I mean, if I don't have gold eyes, no one can suspect anything, right? They'll probably still think I'm _Sora,_ but apparently the guy's famous in a good way, so I guess I can live with that…"

"No."

He looked up sharply. "What?"

She put her hands on his shoulders, looking at him with a surprisingly stern expression.

"Van, your eyes are a part of you. You've told me you like them. I'm not going to hide a part of you just because some people are stupid and don't understand."

"...Did you just call people stupid?" Vanitas grinned. He was a little relieved, honestly. She was right; he _did_ like his eyes. Before, he'd always been glad they set him apart from Ventus; now, they were a reminder that even if he had light in him - which was a _good_ thing, he still had to remind himself from time to time - he was still himself. Vanitas. His own person.

"I guess I did." Aqua grinned back. "The point is, people will say what they want about you, about _both_ of us. I won't make the mistake of believing them again, not even for a second."

That was good enough for him. It had been just him and Aqua against the world before - and this time, the world was just some stupid rumors, not the entire Realm of Darkness. Thinking about it like that, it seemed kind of stupid that he even cared at all. Still, he'd try his best to be a better person, not just to get rid of the rumors. Part of it was for Aqua, which was no surprise. She always made him want to be better. But there was a bigger reason too.

Because this time, the only person who got to decide who he would be was himself.

XXX

 **A/N: Some things that didn't quite fit into the narrative: Lea and Merlin were fighting Xigbar, that's why they didn't show up for a while. Merlin didn't come back to the ballroom with Lea because he was helping get Xehanort's Stop spell off of the people in the castle. Merlin will be able to help everyone get home from the Castle of Dreams, and Mickey will probably come back with his gummi ship too. Oh, and Drizzle had run away in the first place because he sensed Xehanort, but then Alice caught him, so he was in the cage with her. I** _ **think**_ **that's all the main tidbits I left out.**

 **I will be writing more in this universe eventually, but for now I'm going to try and catch up on "Stroke of Midnight" and "Contingency Plan," since I've left those alone for a long time now. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Aced It

**A/N: Bet you weren't expecting an update to this fic of all the things I'm working on, huh? You can thank GuiltyKingOumaShu for giving me motivation to work on this one again. Also as a note, this chapter doesn't have KH3 spoilers, but there's a good chance that later chapters will reference events in KH3, though for a number of reasons it won't follow that plot super closely. The main focus of this whole fic is still what Vanitas and Aqua are doing with their lives, but like with the previous chapters of this fic, other KH characters will still be around from time to time too.**

 **For those of you who are interested, here's my predicted fic updating schedule:**

 **-Alternate back and forth between chapters of Stroke of Midnight and Dancing Around the Truth (Danny Phantom fic), with a possible sequel chapter to Necromancy thrown in**

 **-Go back to Contingency Plan (which only has two chapters still, rip) and alternate chapters of that and this fic, based on what I'm feeling at the time**

 **-** _ **Possibly**_ **revive More than Bread, which I'm sure none of you care about I'm having thoughts about again**

 **-No spoilers, but seeing Demyx in KH3 made me want to add something onto Will Prank for Food… yeah...**

 **Anyway, other note, this chapter is… awkward. Yeah. Long story short: Vanitas finally gets the sex talk for real. There's nothing graphic though, and the majority of the talk is summarized rather than flat-out explained. This story will contain no actual sexual content but it is discussed. So, anyway, there's your warning.**

 **Special thanks to RevengeRevisited for betaing this chapter!**

Castle Oblivion wasn't at the top of Vanitas's list of favorite worlds. In fact, it was almost at the bottom, right below Disney Town and just an inch above the Keyblade Graveyard. At least Disney Town had ice cream to balance out the world's painful brightness.

But Castle Oblivion had free washing machines. So here they were.

"I get why we didn't come here sooner," Vanitas said, lying flat on a bench in the industrial-sized laundry room. This place did an overkill job of catering to Aqua's needs; together their clothes barely filled two of the room's twenty-something washing machines, and that was only because Aqua insisted on separating the lights and darks. He lounged in his dark suit (which couldn't be washed anyway) while Aqua wore a set of white button-up pajamas. Apparently everything this Castle generated was white. Aqua could've changed the color, but there wasn't much point when she'd just ditch the clothes again after the laundry was done.

"Why's that?" Aqua asked, sitting down next to his head and running her fingers through his hair. He smiled.

"Too much white. Think I'd go crazy if I had to live here."

"Me too." She chuckled. "Being stuck here for a while wasn't too fun. I thought you might say it was because you could feel Ven here. Can you feel him at all?"

Her voice held a hint of longing — she still missed him, of course. Vanitas knew better than to feel jealous of that by now, much as that was easier said than done. If Aqua didn't care about her friends, she wouldn't be Aqua.

He shook his head. "Ventus isn't here. I mean, his body might be, but his heart isn't. I would know."

"You're right… we still need to find Sora, don't we?" She sighed. Vanitas swung his legs off the bench and sat up.

"That's where Ventus really is." He nodded. "Figured we'd run into him too by now, honestly."

"Me too. I hope nothing's happened to him." Aqua's brows drew together. "No one else has been able to track him down either, as far as I know. Not since Kairi went to warn him about the Organization."

"He was fine then, right?"

"I think so. And Riku said it's normal for him to forget to check in."

"Then I bet he's fine," Vanitas reassured her, combing his fingers through her hair. She rested her head on his shoulder; now that his body had begun growing again, he was closer to her height, making the position a little more comfortable than it used to be. "If he's anything like me, nothing's gonna take him out that easy."

"You're probably right. It's just… it's hard being so close to Ven, and not being able to do anything to help him," she said. "I hope he'll forgive me. It's taken so long…"

"Of course he'll forgive you. You guys are friends, right? Besides, I bet Ventus couldn't hold a grudge if his life depended on it." _Against anyone but me, anyway._ He didn't look forward to facing his other half again… but Aqua needed him. And whether Ventus would remember or not, he'd helped Vanitas. He owed it to him to help him wake up.

"You'd be surprised. One of the last times I saw him…" Aqua winced. "I made some mistakes then, too. Even before the darkness took hold of me."

"Then you'll fix them." He said matter-of-factly, but she didn't seem to be listening.

"And if we haven't found Terra by then… when he finds out what I did to Terra…"

" _Hey."_ Vanitas wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze. "That wasn't your fault, alright? Terra's going to be fine. We got Saix back from the Organization, so we can get Terra back, too."

As much as he'd never liked the brunette keybearer, Vanitas would do everything he could to make sure he came back in one un-Norted piece. No one deserved what had happened to him. What Vanitas himself had been a part of doing to him… but it was too late to blame himself now. What he'd done while working with Xehanort was in the past; all he could do was try to fix it.

"You're right… it's just being back here in this place… it makes me think about them," she mumbled into his shoulder. "It reminds me of everything that happened. Everything I was too weak to stop."

"Not being able to stop Xehanort doesn't make you weak," he said firmly. "No one's been able to stop him for good yet."

That didn't seem to cheer her up, but she didn't say anything, just adjusted her head in the crook of his neck. Unsure what else to do, he rubbed her back soothingly the way she'd done to calm him before. He thought it might have helped, until he felt the warm water droplets seeping through the fibers of his suit.

"Hey," he said softly, twisting on the bench so that one leg hung off each side of it. Now facing Aqua, he lifted her chin. Her cheeks sparkled with the tears that flowed down them.

"I'm fine, Van," she said, voice tired. "I will be, anyway. Once all this is over."

Call him impatient, but Vanitas didn't want to wait until all this was over to see her happy again. Not that she was crying all the time, but ever since the fight with Xehanort last week, she'd slipped into more bouts of melancholy. Vanitas hated not knowing how to cheer her up. Void, she _deserved_ to be happy; she was working so hard to control her darkness _and_ save everyone around her. No one should have to handle that kind of pressure.

"Forget about 'all this' for a moment," he said, waving a hand. "You can't fix everything by yourself anyway, so let Lea and Riku and the others worry about Xehanort. What do you want to do _now?_ What would make you happy?"

She blinked at him, tears still dripping from her eyelashes.

"I'm not sure I can just forget about everything, but… a break _would_ be nice," she admitted, looking away. "I'd like to save Ven, but since we need Sora for that, I guess the next thing would be… having a place to stay. A _real_ place, not just moving between inns and camping. Not that I mind sleeping under the stars, but having a real home again, with showers and a washing machine and everything — I think it might help."

Vanitas's brow furrowed. "But didn't you say we couldn't live together? Something about rumors and… stuff?" He didn't want to admit that he'd been pretty confused about all that. The last thing he wanted to do right now was make her explain that awkward conversation again.

A hot blush stained her face.

"People are probably going to spread rumors regardless. I mean, look at what happened a few days ago, when everyone thought you were one of Xehanort's vessels. There's no point in worrying about what other people think anymore."

Somehow the look on her face said that any new rumors would be just as bad as that one. But how could living together make any rumors like that? If anything it would just show that Aqua really trusted him, right?

"Unless you don't want to," Aqua said quickly, her face even redder than before. "I don't mean, I'm not trying to ask you to _sleep_ with me, that's not — light, I am _so_ bad at this." She closed her eyes.

"What? Aqua, no, don't worry." He squeezed her hand. "I think… there's just some things I don't understand. I'm glad you've tried to explain stuff to me and all, and no offense, but I think someone else is gonna have to help me. I don't want to do anything stupid and make you feel bad."

"I — you know someone else you could ask about _this?"_ Aqua laughed a little in surprise. He shrugged.

"I helped de-Nort Saix. He owes me a favor." From what Aqua had told him before, it was usually a parent who gave this 'talk' to their kids. But for Aqua it had been Master Eraqus, and Vanitas didn't have a parent figure at all. Still, it felt like it probably should be someone older who explained it to him, especially since Aqua had such a difficult time talking about it. It was the only subject that had gotten more awkward as they grew closer, and he couldn't even say he knew why.

"You think _Saix_ will—? Well, I guess you know him better than I do. He's back in Radiant Garden now, isn't he?"

Vanitas nodded before standing from the bench. "Might as well go try to talk to him now, while I'm thinking about it. I don't think any Organization members will find you in here while I'm gone." He smiled at her, and she returned it.

"Probably not. But, Van—" An awkward look passed over her face before she sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry I'm so bad at talking about this. I knew it was something we'd have to discuss eventually, but… thanks for not making me do it this time."

"And I'm sorry I look like an idiot because no one ever taught me this stupid stuff." He shrugged. "This isn't normal, I get that much. But we'll be okay, right?"

"Right." She smiled, looking relieved. "Take care, Van."

He bent down to place a quick kiss on her cheek.

"Only if you do, too."

XXX

Vanitas bounced on the balls of his feet, letting out a breath as he stared at the unadorned apartment door. He felt naked standing there in his dark suit. He'd forgotten to change before leaving Castle Oblivion, but his new clothes were still in the laundry; what was he supposed to wear? Aqua probably could've made the Castle whip something up for him, but he'd already landed in Radiant Garden by the time the thought occurred to him. The familiar tightness of his suit only added to his quickly growing anxiety about the whole situation.

 _This is stupid. If Aqua can't even explain all this relationship stuff, why would Saix be able to? He was a Nort, he might not even know about it; what am I supposed to say, anyway? "Tell me why it's a big deal if people are naked?" What if I just sound stupid and then Saix won't even be my friend at all and—_

He punched the doorbell before he could talk himself out of it. He couldn't keep making Aqua uncomfortable with his ignorance. Still, he let out another hissing breath and glanced down the hall, as if someone would come walking down the stained carpet to save him from his coming embarrassment. No one did, of course. And then a voice called from inside.

" _Door's open!"_

Vanitas froze. That didn't sound like Saix, it sounded like… he muttered a curse. _Lea._ Why did it have to be Lea? Vanitas hadn't talked to the man since he'd accidentally released the Unversed on him last week. He hadn't realized the two of them lived together; why was it okay for them and not for himself and Aqua?

 _Bad idea bad idea bad idea—_

Right when he was about to say screw it and take off down the hall, the door opened.

"Sheesh, these walls are like paper, I thought you'd hear— Van?" Lea's eyes widened.

"Vanitas to you," he corrected automatically.

"Vanitas, sorry. Didn't get that memorized." He chuckled awkwardly, then scanned Vanitas up and down. "So, uh… what's with the getup?"

"Laundry incident," he not-quite-lied before taking in Lea's appearance — his explosion of red hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and he wore an orange tank top and short plaid shorts. Had the fairies finally gotten him some new clothes, or was his fashion sense just that bad? Vanitas bit his tongue before he could insult the man out loud; he didn't have time to argue right now.

"Is Saix home?"

"Oh. Yeah, he's here. Didn't know he was expecting… anyone." _You,_ his voice seemed to say. But he held the door open for Vanitas to enter.

 _Stupid stupid stupid idea — Saix, you better be able to help me…_

The apartment was small, but to Vanitas, it might as well have been a castle. Worn-in couches with clothes strewn over them, a wobbly kitchen table, peeling floral wallpaper that even he could tell must be centuries out of date. The only thing that looked like it belonged in this decade was a red laptop plugged into the wall outlet and sitting on the floor.

"Nice place," Vanitas commented. Lea shrugged.

"Hey, the electricity works nine days out of ten, and I can power the water heater myself. Isa and I don't exactly have munny for much else."

"Huh? No, I— nevermind." Vanitas sighed; apparently he'd come off as sarcastic, but he'd meant it. This place looked like a _home._

"What about you?" Lea asked, spinning a wooden chair around and sitting in it backwards. "You and Aqua find a place to hole up yet?"

Vanitas drummed his fingers on the table. "Actually, that's what I'm here for."

Lea raised an eyebrow. "If you're wanting to room with us, you're gonna be disappointed. We've only got two beds, and contrary to popular belief, Isa and I aren't sharing."

"You really like to jump to conclusions, don't you?" Vanitas huffed, stealing a chair himself. "And who's Isa? I thought Saix lived here."

"He doesn't really go by that name anymore," Lea said, looking away. "Saix was his name when he was in the Organization. Isa's his real one."

"Oh. Okay." Vanitas shrugged. "I just came to ask him a question. That's all. No need to freak out at me again."

"About that…" Lea ruffled his hair, still avoiding Vanitas's eyes. Hopefully it wasn't because the gold made him uncomfortable. "I don't say this a lot, but... sorry. I don't know what happened at Scrooge's place, but Isa told me what you did for him. You can't be half bad if you could pull off that. So… thanks."

For once, Lea met Vanitas's eyes and smiled. He blinked, unsure how to respond. People didn't thank him. He didn't do things that people could thank him for. This had been his plan though, right? To prove he wasn't one of Xehanort's vessels?

His face heated slightly as he shrugged.

"You believe I'm not a Nort, then?"

"I didn't mean to call you a Nort," Lea said quickly. "I'm not the best at words. I just meant — well, fine, I wasn't sure you _weren't_ a Nort. But I didn't mean to call you out like that."

 _Well you still did,_ Vanitas wanted to snap. But it wasn't like Lea could fix that now, and the apology was honestly more than Vanitas had expected.

"And I didn't mean to set those Unversed on you," he begrudgingly admitted.

"Unversed? Is that what those monsters were?"

"Yeah. They're… let's just say they show up when I'm not feeling great. Usually I can control it, but sometimes I can't." His tone was clipped; that was more than he wanted to say. It would help keep people from accusing him if they knew his Unversed were usually an accident, though.

"Huh. Sounds kinda like Isa's whole berserk thing," Lea said; Vanitas couldn't tell if he was supposed to hear it or not. "Anyway. You mind if we start this whole thing over? Since you did help save one of my best friends, and I really don't want Aqua coming after me for insulting her boyfriend…"

Lea grinned expectantly. Could it really be that easy, though? Were some people that willing to forgive?

"Guess I'd rather not have Aqua mad at me for snapping at one of her friends, either." Vanitas reluctantly smiled back. He hoped it looked like a smile, anyway. It must have worked, because Lea stood and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks, man. I'll see about getting Isa for you. Thought he'd come out by now…"

Lea disappeared down the short hallway leading to three rooms. The one he knocked on was on the right, directly opposite an open door that led to a disaster zone. Who had enough stuff to make a mess like that?

"Isa? You remember Vanitas? He's got a question for you."

The door opened, revealing the man Vanitas was looking for — though he almost didn't recognize him in the gray t-shirt and sweatpants he was currently wearing. He also held a half-finished bowl of ramen that he set down on the kitchen counter before taking a creaking seat at the table across from Vanitas.

"You came back," Isa said as Lea grabbed a soda can from the fridge.

"What, you're surprised?" Vanitas squirmed in his seat. Should he not have come here? Was there some other social rule he'd missed?

"I suppose I simply… didn't see why you'd bother."

Lea took a gulp of soda while not-so-discreetly elbowing him. "Enough with the emo stuff, man. You deserve friends just as much as the rest of us."

"Are we… friends, then?" Vanitas asked. He really didn't know how it worked. Ventus made friends with everyone within five minutes of meeting them, but that was _Ventus._ And Saix had turned down his offer of friendship before, right?

But Isa smiled, his green eyes seeming much more alive than the last time Vanitas had seen him.

"An enemy of Xehanort is a friend of mine."

Vanitas grinned; he'd take that. But then he remembered why he was here, and the grin turned to a grimace.

"I'm as ready to get rid of the old man as the rest of you, but that's not why I'm here." He fidgeted with the hem of his skirt. "I… uh…" How was he supposed to ask this? Aqua made it seem like there were so many _rules_ around talking about these things. But then again, he'd never cared much for rules, had he? If Lea had forgiven him for accidentally siccing the Red Hot Chilis on him, then surely they could handle a stupid conversation. Might as well just get it over with.

"I need you to teach me about sex."

Lea spit out his soda, rather dramatically spraying Isa in the face. The blue-haired man blinked, sighed, and grabbed the edge of Lea's shirt to wipe off the liquid.

"Hey!"

"Suck it up, Lea," Isa said. Under the soda spray, his face was slightly red, the way Aqua's always got when talking about this. "Are you going to answer Vanitas's question or not?"

"Uh, he came here to ask _you,_ dude. I've given enough Life Lessons in my day."

"Which is why you're obviously more qualified. Particularly on this subject."

"Look, I know you don't ever want to sleep with anyone, but you're still better at the whole talking thing. Besides, it's not like I have any, uh, _practical_ experience, either."

"But you do have experience explaining difficult concepts to children," Isa pointed out.

"I'm not a kid," Vanitas butted in. "It's not my fault nobody ever taught me about this stuff."

Lea set down his soda, still avoiding Vanitas's eyes. "Are you trying to tell me you and Aqua aren't already, you know–"

Isa didn't even pretend to be subtle as he smacked Lea in the chest.

"Not everyone's relationships must involve physical intimacy, Lea. Surely you know that."

"Yeah, well… they've been roaming the worlds on their own, it's not too much of a stretch that they'd be…"

Isa fixed a glare on his friend, who quieted. Vanitas was left even more confused than before.

"Look, I just want answers," he said in exasperation. "Aqua apparently can't teach me about this, and _Xehanort_ sure as hell never did. I just want to know what this is all about so Aqua will stop being weird about it. That's all."

Isa and Lea shared a look. Vanitas could practically see the battle in their eyes over who was going to answer his question. He thought Isa was winning, but then surprisingly he sighed and backed down.

"I suppose it would have done us well to have been taught by someone other than Xigbar…" he said under his breath.

" _Xigbar? Braig_ -Xigbar?" Vanitas asked. Aqua had told him that the old man was a Nort; why had _he_ been the one to talk about this to Isa and Lea?

"Yeah. _Please_ don't remind me." Lea gagged. "Anyway, have fun with that. I'm going to Merlin's."

With that, he threw on his black trenchcoat and a pair of pants that had been draped over the couch, barely remembering to shove his boots over his feet before he was out the door. His soda was left forgotten on the table. Saix sighed and took a long drink from it.

"Alright, Vanitas. I will be giving a purely biological and anatomical explanation, as I have no experience with the matter myself. I will also be assuming that you are looking for a heterosexual standpoint considering your relationship with Aqua, though you are welcome to correct me on that if necessary."

Vanitas rubbed his forehead, wishing he had a soda too. He was already pretty much lost, and as much as he just wanted to try and absorb Isa's lecture without looking stupid, he'd have to ask a few questions if he wanted to come away with anything useful.

"What does 'heterosexual' mean?"

Isa paused, looked down at his soda, and held in a sigh. "This… may be more difficult than I realized."

"I'm sorry I'm an idiot, okay?" Vanitas snapped. It was a good thing his ego could take a few hits, but this was still getting exhausting. "It's not like anyone _tells_ me these things."

"No, trust me, I understand. More than you might know. But as for your question – heterosexual. It means you are sexually attracted to someone of the opposite gender. So, girls for you."

Okay, that he could mostly understand. Aqua had explained the differences between girls and boys, at least on a surface level. His face reddened as the circumstances that led up to that conversation came to mind. But what was _sexual_ attraction? 'Attraction' was like, wanting to be close to something or someone, right?

"Okay. So. I want to be with Aqua. I love her. What does that have to do with sex?"

"For most people, those two concepts — romantic love and sexual attraction — are highly connected. However, this isn't the case for everyone."

"I am _so_ lost." Vanitas dropped his head into his hands with a growl. Couldn't Isa give him a straight answer for once?

"Let me put it this way: sexual attraction is not the same thing as love," Isa explained. "However, I'm told many people choose to pursue a relationship based upon it."

"Why?" He asked sincerely.

Isa chuckled and shook his head. "That's the question, isn't it? I'm really not the one you should be asking about this."

"You're the _only_ one I can ask," he grumbled. "What, do you not know what it is either?"

"I do in theory." Isa clasped his hands around the soda can. Vanitas wanted to steal it and chug the thing; maybe the sugar would give him the energy to deal with this useless conversation.

"Fantastic," he muttered. "Can you at least tell me _in theory_?"

"This isn't exactly pleasant for me either, you know," Isa grumbled in return. "I should have let Lea handle this, though I doubt his explanation would have been much better… Anyway, sexual attraction is usually defined as being physically attracted to someone. It tends to manifest as both emotional and physical sensations. The simplest comparison I can make is to hunger, but instead of desire for food it's desire for sexual contact with a certain individual."

"That's… completely useless," Vanitas deadpanned. "I make monsters out of my emotions; _Everything_ can be physical and emotional. And I definitely don't want to eat Aqua, gross." Kissing certainly wasn't the same thing as that, right?

"That's not — you're missing the point, Vanitas," Isa sighed heavily, downing another swig of the soda. "Simpler terms, Isa. You can do this."

Vanitas tapped his foot against the side of his chair while Isa composed himself.

"For the sake of this conversation, sexual attraction is wanting to have sex with someone. Which also for the sake of this conversation, we'll only cover the most basic definition, as well as the necessary safety measures should you choose to have intercourse. I will _not_ be roped into anything beyond that."

"Fine, whatever, just tell me already."

Isa did, over the course of the next several minutes, in much more detail than Vanitas was expecting. He listened, still a little confused at why anyone would want to do those things, but at least he finally knew what sex actually was.

"So… there _is_ a time when people are supposed to not wear clothes? Besides bathing?"

Isa raised an eyebrow. " _That's_ your question?"

"Well, Aqua told me people are supposed to wear clothes." He crossed his arms. "That probably means she's not one of those people who wants to have sex, right? So why was she so awkward about it?"

"Vanitas–" Isa took a short breath, as if trying to figure out how to word it. "I would not jump to that conclusion. She may not want to risk becoming pregnant, or she may come from a culture where people don't have sex until after marriage, or you two may not have been dating long enough, or any number of other reasons. Most people desire sex at some point in their lives."

Vanitas's brow furrowed. "But you don't. And I don't see the big deal, so I probably don't."

Isa paused, looking at Vanitas carefully. His green eyes seemed to see straight into him, as if he could scan him for signs of sexual attraction.

"How old are you?" He finally asked.

"Twenty-eight."

Isa raised an eyebrow, and Vanitas sighed.

"I _am._ Technically. I was sixteen when I got killed and ended up in the Realm of Darkness though," he admitted.

"Hmmm. You appear about twenty, but even sixteen years would still be rather long to go without experiencing any kind of sexual feelings, even if Xehanort kept you in isolation."

"I look twenty?" Vanitas grinned; it was nice to finally be aging again. Maybe eventually he'd catch up to Aqua's height. "And wait, what do you mean? You're saying something's wrong with me?"

"No, certainly not wrong," Isa said definitively. "Merely different. There is absolutely nothing wrong with not being sexually attracted to anyone, though I'm not sure you should make that discernment so quickly. Have you really never wanted to be with Aqua in that way?"

"I – I don't know, I guess. I didn't even know that it was a possibility…" A conflicted Scrapper peeled itself from him before he could stop it; he winced when Isa jumped slightly.

"Told you. Physical emotions." He grabbed the shivering Unversed by the arm and absorbed it back into himself, ignoring the cold chill that came with it. He wished he could take back the distress on his face so easily.

"That's… certainly something." Isa quickly composed himself. "If this is too uncomfortable of a subject for you, we don't have to continue."

"No," he said quickly, inwardly thankful that Isa hadn't freaked out too much about the Unversed. The last thing he wanted was for his only non-Aqua friend to think he was attacking him. "I need… I need to figure this out."

Isa dipped his head. "Very well."

Vanitas rubbed the hem of his skirt between his fingers as he tried to compose his thoughts. "I love Aqua. No one can take that away from me."

He might have said that a little too defensively, because Isa replied, "Sex and love aren't the same thing, Vanitas. You can have one without the other. It's alright."

He released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Then… I guess I just don't get what the big deal is. I just want to be with Aqua. Forever. I don't care if we wear clothes or sleep together or not, as long as she doesn't leave me."

He bit his lip, slightly surprised that those words even came out. He'd never said anything like that to anyone but Aqua. Would Isa laugh at him? Mock him for the emotions he wasn't supposed to have?

"So you really do care for her." Isa smiled sadly. "I almost envy that."

"You should. Aqua's the best," he said simply, grinning in relief. Maybe Isa wasn't so bad after all, even if he used a lot of confusing words.

"Heh. Well. I would recommend talking with her about this. Whether it's easy or not, it's important to communicate clearly about your boundaries and desires when it comes to physical affection. Many relationships end from lack of communication about these things."

Relationships? End? He blinked, only now considering the possibility. There were plenty of reasons he'd been worried about Aqua leaving him in the past – his darkness, his rough words, his tendency to push everyone else away – but he hadn't realized this sex stuff could be that important. _Was_ it even important to Aqua? He had no idea.

"Yeah… I'll talk to her. Thanks." He stood, nearly knocking his chair over in the process.

"Thank you too, Vanitas," Isa said quietly. "I know I'm not the most helpful with this, but it was thoughtful that you asked. It's… nice to be needed."

"...No problem," he replied awkwardly, still not used to being thanked himself. It wasn't such a bad feeling, though.

"Oh, and Vanitas – if you do realize that you don't experience sexual attraction, there is a word for that you may want to know," Isa added. "People like this… like myself, are called asexual. Or 'ace,' if one prefers the shorter form."

"Ace, huh?" Vanitas said under his breath. "That doesn't sound so bad."

He just hoped that Aqua thought the same way.

XXX

"That didn't take too long." Aqua put down the shirt she was folding when Vanitas shuffled into the laundry room. "Van? Was Saix able to, um, help you?"

"His name's Isa now," he said, walking over and crouching by the dryer. He began pulling out pieces of clothing and folding them one by one, placing them in the pile Aqua had already started. The warmth felt good in is hands; it pushed the worried Scrappers deeper down.

"Oh. Well, was Isa helpful then?"

"Yeah. Isa's good," he said quietly. "I'm still kind of confused, but… that might be my fault now."

"...What makes you say that?" Aqua asked, sitting down on the bench next to the pile of clothes. She looked like she was feeling better than before he'd left. Now was as good a time as ever.

"I just don't get what the big deal is about sex," he finally let out in exasperation. "Look, I'm sorry if there's some rule that I'm not supposed to talk about it, but Isa said if I don't then we might…" he swallowed, "Then we might not be together anymore."

He forced himself to look up at Aqua. She was blinking, her mouth parted slightly.

"Van, don't even think that, okay?" She slid off the bench to crouch beside him. Her hands clasped around his, which still held the pair of socks he'd been folding. "You said it yourself. Our relationship might not be the most normal, but we'll be okay. _Better_ than okay."

That assurance breathed more courage back into him.

"Right." He nodded firmly. "So… we can talk about this? And it won't make you mad?"

Her face reddened. "Van, I was never _mad —_ well, except that one time, but we weren't even friends then. Things are different now."

"I guess that was a long time ago." He chuckled awkwardly. "I might still not know a lot, but I was _really_ stupid back then."

Aqua laughed too. "Maybe just a little."

"Hey, just because I said it doesn't mean you get to," he said, but grinned to show he was teasing. If they could laugh about this, they could laugh about anything. The tension drained out of him. "I think I'm always going to feel a little bit stupid, Aqua. No matter what light I've gained, I think I'm still missing something."

He settled back on his heels, his hands slipping out of Aqua's to hug his knees. She tossed his socks aside.

"Just because you don't understand about… about sex?" She asked. He could tell she was doing her best not to be awkward about it, but her face was still slightly red. "That has nothing to do with your light, Van. _Nothing_. And I haven't… done that either, if that's what you're worried about. I probably don't know that much more than you, honestly."

"Really?" Vanitas asked, already feeling more relieved. She nodded.

"Master Eraqus taught us that it's something special, so you're supposed to save that for someone that you really love. After you're married."

So Isa had been right about the whole 'married' thing, not that Vanitas knew what that meant — but that was a question for another day, probably. Right now something else that Aqua said nagged at him.

"So… if you love someone… do you have to have sex?" He asked, looking into her eyes. He needed to know her answer. "Do you want me to have sex with you?"

If Aqua's face had been red before, right now it might as well have been on fire. He cursed mentally; what did he say wrong? Didn't Isa say he needed to ask that?

"Van — oh light, _Van."_ And then, inexplicably, she burst out laughing.

"What!" He threw his arms in the air. "I'm just asking a question! _I_ don't care if we ever sleep together naked or not, so you gotta tell me or I won't know!"

Her laughter turned nearly to cackling. She fell from her crouch into a sitting position, covering her face with her hand.

"Aqua!" He pleaded. "I'm being serious!"

"Sorry, sorry," she said, trying to swallow her laughter. "I just — I love you so much, Van." She finally got control of herself, turning more serious. "I didn't know you felt that way, but I promise that if you don't want to have sex, I will never, _ever_ expect you to. Or expect you to do anything else you're not comfortable with, either. I know I wasn't the best at talking about these things, but I'll try to do better."

Her grin turned to a sincere smile, one that flooded him with light. He could have made a giant Protector out of that smile.

"Thanks, Aqua. I don't know if I would like sex or not," he said honestly. "And I'd never do that to you either. If you don't want it. Like I said, I don't care."

"That's… kind of a relief, actually." Aqua laughed. "I wasn't sure… I didn't know if you'd thought about it, or wanted it. I should have told you sooner that I want to wait until I'm married. I'm sure Xehanort never taught you about that."

"You've got that right," Vanitas grumbled. "You can teach me about being married a different day, though. This is about as much weirdness as I can handle right now."

"Marriage is a less weird subject," she reassured him. "But that's fine. It can definitely wait."

"So… we're all good?" Vanitas asked. All things considered, that had been a lot less difficult than he'd expected. He should have known everything would be alright — this was Aqua he was dealing with. She already knew how ignorant he was; she wouldn't abandon him over that. And she wouldn't abandon him over something as stupid and weird as sex, either.

"Yes, Van." She scooted close and smoothed his hair aside to place a kiss on his temple. "We're perfectly fine."

"Good." He kissed her back on the cheek. "Guess we should finish that laundry, huh?"

She laughed. "I guess so. Oh, and since we talked that through… maybe we could look for a place to live later? I mean, people will probably assume we're sleeping together anyway. I don't care what they think anymore."

"Good thing you don't, because Lea already thought that."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me…" Aqua sighed and shook her head.

"Yeah, Lea's good at jumping to the wrong conclusions. Why's it such a big deal though? If people think we are, anyway? Is that bad?"

"Depends on who you ask." She frowned. "It's none of their business either way."

Vanitas shrugged. That was probably just another on the list of things he wasn't going to understand.

But as he helped Aqua finish the laundry, he realized that didn't matter too much. There were plenty of things he wouldn't understand — like why she laughed when he folded her bra — but he understood the things that mattered. He knew Aqua loved him, and that he loved her, and that they could talk about anything together. That was good enough for him.

 **A/N: Lots of notes on this one! Vanitas is a sex-neutral asexual, which basically means he's indifferent to actually having sex but doesn't feel attraction in that way. Isa is sex-repulsed when it comes to himself, but doesn't have a problem talking about it. I'm sorry if any of this seemed like it came out of nowhere, but it's actually been my headcanon for a while. I realized that this fic's Vanitas was asexual around the same time I realized I was ace myself. This subconsciously impacted a lot of the way I wrote his interactions with Aqua, and I realized I needed to write this chapter in order for his later characterization to make sense. He isn't aromantic though; his love for Aqua is romantic (though he would probably still have a hard time differentiating between romantic and platonic love). Thanks to Raberba girl, Saix/Isa has always been ace in my mind, I literally couldn't write him any other way. Also, Vanitas may never actually care about identifying as ace himself; if it doesn't come up again it's not because he changed, it's just because he doesn't care as long as he still gets to be with Aqua.**

 **Disclaimer: This chapter isn't meant to be political in any way; I'm just trying to write the characters the way I see them.**

 **I'm sure there's a crap ton of gaps in Isa's sex talk, but I'm writing way out of my comfort zone on this one, it was the best I could do. ^^;;**

 **Lea was definitely just in his boxers, but Vanitas just confused them for shorts; that's why he could just throw on his pants over them.**

 **I think that was everything, I hope you enjoyed this awkward chapter lol**


	5. Brother

**A/N: Back at it again with this fic still oops, KH3 gave me a lot of motivation to work on this one and I might ride that wave for a little while even though I also really need to work on other fics (rip). A few notes on questions some people had regarding the last chapter:**

 **Vanitas isn't sex-repulsed, so it's still perfectly possible that he'll have sex eventually. I won't be writing about that because that's not my style, but yeah, most likely he will do that for Aqua. Even if he doesn't personally understand why it's so important, he'll understand if it's important to her. (This is a real thing that asexuals do sometimes; not all asexuals are 100% against having sex, they just don't experience that type of attraction themselves. But I'm not here to give a lecture lol so if you're curious you can definitely look up more info yourself.) Aqua is** _ **not**_ **asexual, and yes that can be difficult in relationships and doesn't work for everyone, but considering their circumstances and the fact that Vanitas isn't sex-repulsed, I think it would work out for them. Also, Vanitas doesn't really know enough to actually identify as asexual himself right now; it's just kind of a thought in the back of his mind. It isn't super important to him as long as it doesn't hinder his relationship with Aqua.**

 **As a side note,** _ **I**_ **am sex-repulsed, so please don't ask me any more detailed questions on Aqua and Van's sex lives. ^^;; I also understand that this makes it difficult for me to write certain situations realistically; please have patience with me. Despite having worked on this fic for so long, writing actual romance is not really my strong point. I appreciate the positive feedback that you guys have given me on this fic despite that!**

 **This chapter contains** _ **slight**_ **KH3 spoilers, just in a comment that Vanitas makes. I'm pretty sure that it was a part that was shown in the trailers, though.**

XXX

"Ready to go?" Aqua asked once all the clothes were folded and packed in their two backpacks.

"Been ready," Vanitas replied, picking lint off his skirt. "Guess I should probably change before we go, though. Lea and Isa took it pretty well, but I don't want anyone else seeing me in this stupid skirt."

Aqua laughed. "I bet the look on Lea's face was priceless."

"It _was_ pretty funny." Vanitas grinned and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Be right back."

The Castle's layout was confusing, but it seemed to recognize his connection to Aqua to an extent — it didn't seem to be purposefully leading him into oblivion, anyway. Still, it took a few minutes for the twisting hallway to branch off into an empty room he could change in.

He breathed a little easier once he was out of his dark suit and back in his fairy-made clothes. Stupid as the plaid print looked, he was grateful to have the new outfit. Proving he was a decent person was difficult enough with his golden eyes; he didn't want to explain to anyone why he was wearing clothes made out of literal darkness. And besides, the suit got kind of stuffy in the warmer Realm of Light.

He scratched at his neck as he wandered back towards the laundry room… or at least, he thought he was wandering in that direction. Had he gotten turned around somehow? He swore there weren't so many branches splitting off this hallway before…

He cursed as he came to a four-way intersection. He _definitely_ hadn't been here before. Grumbling, he summoned four Floods — _Drizzles_ , he corrected, barely remembering to channel his positivity. They came out smaller than Vanitas would've liked, but he'd take what he could get.

"Find Aqua," he ordered before nudging them off down each of the four hallways, including the one he'd come from. There was no way to tell if he'd gotten turned around back there, or if the Castle had just decided to move on him. Maybe it didn't trust him as much as he'd thought.

Much as he itched to go searching for the right direction himself, it would be smarter to wait for the Floods to return. He paced the white marble, gritting his teeth at how his new shoes squeaked deafeningly against the silence. Stupid Castle Oblivion with its stupid squeaky floors and stupid white walls and stupid hallways that were almost as confusing as the Realm of Darkness —

He nearly tripped over one of the Drizzles that scampered back in front of him. Stupid white creatures blending in with the floor; the blue crescents of its eyes were the only part he could see clearly.

"You found her?" He asked, crouching down to the white Flood's level. It twitched its head and waved its arms at the left hallway. Vanitas was pretty sure that wasn't the path he'd come from, but it was impossible to tell after having paced in circles for the past several minutes.

The Inversed made another vague gesture. Hadn't Aqua said the first Drizzle had been able to talk? He'd have to figure out how that'd happened; his creations would be a lot more helpful if they could actually respond to his questions. Then again, he didn't want them getting an attitude on him.

Sighing, he followed the Drizzle down the nondescript white hallway. After several twists and turns Vanitas was sure the Inversed was lost, but then it darted under a locked door — or tried to; some kind of magical barrier flung it back.

"Nice try." Vanitas smirked and rubbed the creature's head. It made a low rumbling noise, almost like purring. Maybe they were starting to learn how to make noise after all.

Then he inspected the door. The keyblade wielder's mark was engraved there — the same mark that decorated his wayfinder, the same mark that Aqua, Ventus, and Terra had once worn. He hadn't seen it anywhere else in the Castle. And no other doors in the Castle had been locked to him, either. What was this place?

His heart pounded faster in his chest; his keyblade sprung to hand involuntarily. Something was in there — no, _someone_ was in there.

"Ventus…?" He hadn't felt his other half earlier, but standing here – he was sure. Ventus was behind that door.

He clutched at the fabric over his chest; why wouldn't his heart slow down? Ventus was there, sure, but this heart belonged to _him,_ why was he… why did it feel like…

Dizziness swept over him; the door wavered like a rippling illusion. He stabbed his keyblade point-down to steady himself. Only the marble floor was too hard; his blade skidded, throwing him off-balance. He landed hard on one knee and hissed.

"Ventus… what are you doing in there?" He squeezed his eyes shut. "This is my heart… you idiot. You… can't have it back now."

Another short second of his heart beating so fast, he was sure it was going to tear out of him. And then it slowed. Maybe Ventus had been listening after all. Or maybe Vanitas was hallucinating the whole thing, his mind trying to provide excuse for the sheer panic he'd felt on realizing his other half really was here.

Panic. That's definitely what that had been. But he hadn't let out an Unversed… had he?

The small Drizzle was gone. Maybe he had let an Unversed out, or else the Inversed had neutralized it somehow. Could they do that? Last time there had been any Inversed and Unversed in the same area, they'd violently destroyed each other. Was he getting more whole? The schism between light and dark finally narrowing?

It was all just fleeting thoughts, distractions from the real matter at hand. Ventus. Behind the door. His other half – _him._ Who Vanitas had worked for long to rejoin… who he'd broken in the process…

"He's been here for so long… how could he forgive me for that?" He whispered to the empty room.

Saving Ventus – it was going to be harder than he'd realized. Maybe not physically. If they brought Sora here, Vanitas was sure there'd be a way to get Ventus's heart back into his body. But was Vanitas really ready to face him? To face everything he'd done, everything he'd been? To be his own shadow again?

 _It won't be like that,_ he was sure Aqua would have told him. But right now he wasn't ready to believe it.

Emotions boiled in his chest, wanting to evaporate out and distill into Unversed. He held them back by sheer practice and willpower, the way he usually could when they didn't take him by surprise. But maybe… it wouldn't hurt to let them out here, this once. Where they couldn't hurt anyone.

He released the breath he'd been holding, and released a trio of Unversed with it. Surprisingly, each of the three was a different type: one Tank Toppler, one Archraven, one Scrapper. That was unusual, but it was also unusual for him to be feeling so many different emotions at once. Staring down the fidgeting monsters, it made sense.

Tank Toppler. Rage, boiling inside until it couldn't help but explode. He'd always felt anger at Ventus – anger for stealing his face, his name, any chance he had at being loved. He'd learned that wasn't true since befriending Aqua, and since meeting Ventus again inside his heart, but he couldn't completely erase the remnants of what he'd felt for four years. Not yet.

Archraven. Jealousy, glaring down from a height of feigned superiority. Vanitas had never been the better half. Oh, he'd said it to himself, so many times he almost believed it. But never enough to hold off the longing for what Ventus had.

And the Scrapper. One thing that Vanitas had taken longer to realize – loneliness. He shouldn't feel lonely. He had Aqua; it was more than he could ever hope for. But part of him that had lied dormant still felt a draw to his original other half.

He chuckled, and the sound echoed in the narrow hall.

"I can't escape you, can I?"

A tear slid down his cheek – just one. Then he sniffed, wiped it on the back of his hand, and stood. With three strikes of his keyblade, the Unversed dissolved and streamed back into him like acidic vapor.

"There's only one thing to do, then."

He pointed Void Gear at the door. Ventus must have decided to let him in, because the beam of light streaming from his blade sent the door slowly swinging open. Not letting himself think twice, he stepped inside.

White. If Castle Oblivion could get any whiter, this was it. The light pulsing from the chains blinded him, as if trying to repel his darkness. He was a stain, a shadow, he shouldn't have come here –

But all those thoughts melted away when he saw Ventus. He'd expected the Unversed to come back in full force – hatred, disdain, jealousy, contempt. But looking on his other half's sleeping face, the way he was slouched in the throne…

Vanitas chuckled. "You're gonna have a real crick in your neck when you wake up. How'd you fall asleep like that, brother?"

He gasped slightly – how had _that_ tumbled out? Ventus wasn't – Ventus was _him._ They were one, they were supposed to be two halves, not… brothers. But wasn't that what Vanitas had always wanted? To be whole, without relying on Ventus? Even if he was never fully able to escape him…

"Brothers," Vanitas tasted the word again. Looked at Ventus, who, if Vanitas squinted, almost looked like he was smiling. "You think that would work out for us?"

Hyperaware of the squeak of his shoes, Vanitas carefully stepped closer. Not like he should worry; he couldn't wake Ventus. Not from this.

"I guess it's a little late, but… thanks for what you did for me. For us," he said as he impulsively crouched on the tip of the throne's tall, arching armrest. "You saved me when my Unversed and Inversed were attacking each other. When I was attacking myself. You came there, in my heart. And your Wayfinder was a key to bringing us out of the darkness. You remember any of that?"

He looked down, though he didn't really expect Ventus to respond. And of course, he didn't.

"Heh. I know you're not here, not really. But I hope you can hear me, wherever your heart is. Don't expect me to say this twice."

He coughed to clear the tension from his throat. Even so, the words came out rough and low.

"I'm sorry, Ventus." A couple tears dripped down onto his bent knees, turning the gray of his shorts to black. "I didn't think I'd be able to say that. But you didn't deserve what Xehanort… and what I did to you. You're not an idiot. And you're not just my other half. You're _you…_ brother."

He smiled and sniffed. No Unversed this time. Good; it would be a little embarrassing if they appeared and started attacking the comatose boy.

"We'll get your heart back soon. I don't think Aqua will be able to rest until we do." He smirked. "You're pretty lucky to have such a great friend. I guess I'm the real lucky one though, since she's my girlfriend." His smirk broke into full-out grin. "Can't wait to tell you that once you can actually talk back to me."

" _Vanitas,"_ a voice chided from behind him. For one irrational moment he thought it was Ventus talking back after all, but it was just Aqua. He grinned at her, secretly grateful that she hadn't come in moments earlier.

"What? You _are_ my girlfriend."

Her brows drew together as she approached them and knelt by the oversized throne.

"That'll be a long story to explain to him," she said, stroking Ventus's hair.

"He's tough. He'll handle it," Vanitas said with bravado he didn't feel. He felt better after talking to Ventus out loud, but actually explaining his relationship with Aqua to his face? Maybe he wouldn't lead in with that, as tempting as it was.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, I suppose. So… how did you find this place, anyway?"

"Huh… I don't really know. One of my Drizzles was supposed to bring me to you after I got lost, but I ended up here instead." He frowned thoughtfully. "I wonder if he wanted me to find him. Or else my Inversed are just idiots."

"No, I think you might be right. Ven… I think he will forgive you." She smiled and squeezed his hand. "You've come so far, Van."

"Heh. Maybe so, but don't be surprised if I still slip up and call him an idiot every once in a while."

"As long as you expect him to throw it back at you." Aqua stood with a fond look at her comatose friend. "He might look innocent now, but don't let his face fool you."

"I know." Vanitas smiled down at his other half – his brother. "That used to be my face too."

"I always forget that," Aqua said hesitantly. "Is it – difficult, seeing your face on someone else?"

She'd never asked so directly before; it caught him off guard.

"Well… at first, yeah. I felt like I should've been the one to keep our face, since I had more of our memories. But now? _This_ is who I am, Aqua." He gestured to himself, hopping down from the armrest. "Gold eyes. Black hair. Wicked good looks."

He winked, sending a blush across her face.

"Don't let it go to your head," she replied, shoving him playfully.

"Too late." He smirked. "Don't worry though. I know you'll always have me beat in that field."

Her blush deepened as she pulled him in for a kiss – only to pause and glance at where Ventus was sleeping. Vanitas laughed.

"Hey, maybe we'd gross him out enough that he'd wake up."

"Nice try." She settled for a quick peck on his lips. "Come on, we'd better get going."

"To find a place to live or to find Sora?" Vanitas asked.

"We can keep our eyes out for both."

That was as good a plan as any. Then again, any plan where he got to stay with Aqua was sure to be a good one.

Vanitas cast his eyes back at Ventus as they left the chamber.

"Enjoy the rest of your nap, brother. We'll be back soon."


	6. Le Grand Bistrot (pt 1)

**A/N: This chapter contains KH3 spoilers! They're pretty minor, just up to about Twilight Town.**

Most of the worlds they'd previously visited wouldn't cut it for a permanent residence. Disney Town was obviously out of the picture, despite Aqua joking that they could get ice cream every day. Dwarf Woodlands had a nice, dark forest Vanitas liked to relax in, but not enough human-sized housing. Olympus had seemed like a decent place from what he remembered — there were plenty of people who liked to fight there — but Aqua blushed and quickly gave an excuse not to visit.

"You got any better ideas then?" Vanitas asked as they hovered on their gliders in the Lanes Between. Aqua tapped her armored fingers against the handlebars; even though the fairy clothing protected them from the darkness, she felt better in her full armor. Vanitas figured he would too, but he hadn't learned how to summon it yet.

"There's plenty of worlds we haven't visited," she said. "Besides, I don't think Sora's been to any of the ones I have besides Radiant Garden, and you already said no to that."

That was true. He hadn't admitted that it was because he was probably banned from Scrooge's ice cream shop in that world.

"Guess it won't hurt to wander a bit. Maybe we can find a place with even better ice cream."

Aqua laughed. "We can always make some from your Unversed again. Or your Inversed. Can you make Inversed Prize Pods?"

"Huh, that's not a bad idea. If I just focus on the right emotions and flavors…"

He kept that in the back of his mind as they flew towards a distant star system. At first he found himself missing the speed of the dark corridors, but flying side by side with Aqua, bumping each others' gliders and doing tricks from time to time, made the journey seem short. And the stars… you couldn't see stars like that in the corridors. Most of the bright specks were white or yellow, but a few scattered clusters glowed shades of blue and red.

"It's beautiful, isn't it," Aqua said, the lights reflecting in swirling patterns across her helmet and mixing with the cobalt of her armor. He committed the magical scene to memory.

"It's not so bad." He shrugged but grinned under his helmet. "Race you to the next asteroid!"

He revved his glider with the pedal underfoot, crouching instinctively to help pick up speed. Not that it actually did much; there was no air to resist him, no wind billowing around his arms. That feeling was almost as surreal as the spacescape around them. But he didn't let that distract him now; Aqua was already gaining on him.

"Nice try, Van. I've been flying keyblade gliders for years." She spun around to prove her point and kept flying backwards.

"Show off," Vanitas grumbled to himself. She still heard of course; their helmets were magically linked so they could speak in the Lanes Between. Her laugh came echoing back.

Even though he knew he would lose, it was still exhilarating to fly as fast as he could, dodging space junk and gummi blocks in his way. Aqua didn't hold back; she reached the knobby asteroid a good fifteen seconds before he caught up. He eased off the booster to avoid crashing into her.

"Best two out of three?" He asked, but she didn't reply. She was staring around the curve of the asteroid.

"That might have to wait. It looks like we're here."

He edged his glider around to get a better view. Sure enough, there was a world ahead, one that Vanitas was pretty sure he hadn't visited before. Then again, worlds looked much different from the Lances Between than they did from the dark corridors.

"Alright, but next time I want a rematch."

"I'll count on it."

Aqua opened a portal to take them through the barrier to the surface of the world. Nothing quite compared to the time he'd gone from the Realm of Darkness to the world of light, but the portal still wrapped him in warmth as he passed through.

Golden light filtered through a dappled blanket of clouds and set the thin carpet of grass gleaming. Vanitas looked up as the portal sparked out of existence; it had spat them out in front of a wrought-iron gate. Beyond that, an imposing but weathered-looking building loomed. Crows perched on its eaves, cawing at the two newcomers.

"Where are we?" Vanitas asked as he hopped off his glider and dissolved his mask. He couldn't quite tell, but something about this place felt so… _familiar._

"Your guess is as good as mine." Aqua shrugged, then looked thoughtfully up at the dilapidated building. "This doesn't look like a castle, though… and it doesn't look like anyone's home."

"Huh… do you think Ventus ever came here?" He asked.

"Why? Do you think he did?"

"I don't know… there's just something familiar about this place. I don't know. I might be imagining it," he said quickly. No point in getting her hopes up. Besides, it wasn't like it mattered if Ventus had been here once; he wouldn't be here now. Sora was the one they were looking for. Unless _Sora_ had been here, but Vanitas didn't think their connection would be strong enough for him to tell.

"Well, I guess we just stick to the original plan, then. Search for Sora and see if this would be a good world to stay in."

"I vote we check _away_ from the creepy building, then," Vanitas said, spinning on his heel to face the forest.

The woods weren't quite as dark as the ones in the Dwarf Woodlands, but they still felt cozy to him. The warm sunset light spotted the ground in patches. Despite knowing he shouldn't have been here before, it still felt familiar. Like he'd looked at those spots of light and found pictures in them before.

"That one looks almost like a train," he murmured to himself, stepping through the glowing beam.

"Hmm?" Aqua glanced at him, and he shook his head.

"Nothing." He could've told her, she wouldn't have made fun of him – but where were these strange thoughts coming from? It scared him a little – what if Ventus _had_ been here, and thought these things, and somehow the memories had gotten mixed up inside him? They already hadn't evenly shared the memories when they'd split, and –

He stopped short.

"Van?" Aqua stopped too, giving him the full force of her concern. "Is there something you can feel or smell here that I can't? Should we leave?"

"No, it's not – I didn't smell anything. I just – I _remember."_ His eyes were wide as he met hers. "I know where we are. This is Twilight Town."

"Twilight Town?" She tilted her head. "I've never heard of it. Did Master Xehanort have you spread Unversed here?"

He laughed. "Just the opposite, actually. This is where the old man found me. This is – well, _was_ my home."

He took a deep breath, and the musky scent of leaves took him back to that time. When he was just a regular kid. When he was still _Ven._

"This was your world?" Aqua asked, looking surprised. "Really?"

"What, surprised I wasn't born under a rock? Or in the Keyblade Graveyard?" He grinned to show he was joking.

"No, I – I just forget you… had a childhood." Her face turned pink, and not just from the sunset's glow. "Sorry."

"Don't be." He shrugged. "I forget too. Didn't even recognize this place at first. But now I remember sneaking out into these woods when I was little. My mom hated that, said I was going to get myself kidnapped. I didn't. I think this was where a stranger passed on the keyblade to me, though. Must've been a real idiot." He laughed, wishing he could remember the boy better. All he could remember was his stupid-looking pink hair.

"Funny. I didn't know these memories were still there." He looked up through the branches, wondering if the pink-tinted sky had sparked the connection. "Sorry. You can tell me to shut up."

"I wasn't thinking that at all," Aqua said, twining her fingers with his. "You rarely tell me anything about your past; I was just surprised. Please, keep going."

Was she just saying that? Or did she really want to know? It was true; he didn't talk about his past. It made him feel exposed, even more than when he literally let out his emotions. He was surprised that memory had spilled out at all, but maybe that was just a testament to how far he'd come. It was okay to share these things with Aqua. She was safe.

"Well, uh…" He wasn't sure what to say now. The memories were still hazy, just like most of the ones before the split were. The only one that wanted to stand out now was…

He winced, shoving that back down. Memories of Xehanort didn't deserve to be mixed with the good memories he had here.

"You don't have to," Aqua said quickly. "I just thought you might want to talk about it. It's fine."

"You worry too much, Aqua." Vanitas forced a laugh. "All my memories aren't happy ones, that's all. Let's just make some better ones, okay?"

"...Yeah. You're right," she replied, though her voice was reluctant. Eventually she'd get answers out of him; he didn't doubt that. Right now though he just squeezed her hand in thanks.

They trekked through the woods until noises up ahead broke their silence.

"Heartless?" Aqua asked, letting go of his hand and summoning Stormfall. He called Void Gear and charged ahead. In the center of a clearing was a mass of Large Bodies, Soldiers, and Shadows — nothing too exciting. What were they doing _here,_ though? There were never Heartless in these woods before, unless those memories were stuck inside Ventus.

"Get out of here, losers," he said, stabbing his blade into the back of a Large Body. The stupid fat thing lumbered around and charged him, but he cartwheeled aside.

Aqua quickly joined him in taking out the Heartless. A few strikes and magic spells later, all that was left was a scattering of munny, HP orbs, and synthesis items. They scooped up their prizes, careful to pick up all the munny especially. If they could ever agree on which world to stay in, they'd need the munny to afford a place to live. In that way the Heartless were a necessary evil, he guessed.

"Nothing's a challenge anymore after the Heartless in the Realm of Darkness," he commented, dismissing his blade. "I'm gonna lose my edge if this is all we're up against. How am I supposed to get ready to kick Xehanort's butt?"

"We should get the other keyblade wielders to spar with us when we find them," Aqua said. They were about to keep walking when Vanitas noticed something else a little ways from where the Heartless had spawned — a pile of fruit.

"Weird. None of this grows around here." He frowned and picked up an apple, shrugged, and bit into it. Only then did something pop out from behind the fruit.

"Gah!" He dropped the apple, staring at the gray rat that had just appeared.

"Van?" Aqua jogged over. "Oh!"

The rat stood up on two legs, shaking its fist at Vanitas, almost like — could this thing understand them?

"Uh. Is this your food?" He asked. He'd be mad if some stranger came up and started stealing his food, too.

"Van, it's a rat, it can't—"

But the rat nodded its head vigorously. Vanitas crossed his arms and smirked at Aqua.

"Hah. See, I bet the Heartless were giving him a hard time."

Aqua just stared at him like he'd lost it. "Van. Why would the Heartless want anything to do with a _rat?"_

"Rats have hearts too, don't they?" He shrugged. "Maybe they make Heartless too. I mean, Ventus met some mice that definitely had hearts. I left some tiny Unversed for him to fight when he got shrunk there." He grinned at the memory. The Castle of Dreams had certainly been an interesting world, even if it had been the only one where he'd been spotted creating the Unversed. He wouldn't have minded living there if it wasn't so _bright._

Aqua just sighed and shook her head, but Vanitas was already crouching down to talk to the rat.

"Sorry for eating your food, little guy. You might want to move it, though. I don't think the Heartless will stay gone for long."

"A rat. Seriously, it takes you _weeks_ to make friends with any of the humans we know, but he'll just up and talk to a rat in the middle of the woods," Aqua muttered but couldn't hold back a laugh. "Maybe it's just a boy thing…"

"Hey. Be nice to him, he's had a rough day," Vanitas grinned, knowing it would annoy her more. "You think we could keep him?"

The look on her face was priceless. You would've thought he'd asked if he could let some Unversed out to terrorize children.

"Van, we don't even have a place to live, much less to keep a rat. Besides, he's probably feral, you can't just take a rat out of the woods and make it a— a _pet._ "

"Sheesh Aqua, I'm just kidding." He punched her lightly. "He'd be more of a minion than a pet."

She made a face at him, but it was nothing compared to the face that the rat was now making. He looked aghast, like Vanitas had insulted his honor. Guess the rat thought he was above being a minion.

"Nah, you're right. I'm sure he's got a better home here than we do." Vanitas smiled down at the rodent. "Be careful, little guy."

He waved at the rat before walking away with Aqua, who was still laughing to herself.

"I bet you didn't know, but Ven tried to get us to keep a rat once, too," she told him. "He and Terra caught it in the castle. It bit both of them as soon as they tried to put it in a cage, though. Terra's bite got infected; he had to sit out of lessons for a whole week."

Vanitas snorted in laughter, resisting his usual reflex to balk at being compared to Ventus.

"I bet I wouldn't have gotten bit. You just gotta be—" He cut off, yelping as something scurried up his leg. He spun, trying to smack the creature off.

"Van!" Aqua lunged to whack the rat — he was sure that was who it was — off his head. But before she could, Vanitas was stumbling back. "Hold still!"

"I'm trying!" He said, a note of panic entering his voice. _Something else_ was moving his body. Was this it? Had he gotten possessed by Xehanort when he wasn't looking?

Then against his will he was bending down and scooping the pile of fruit into his jacket. That didn't seem like the kind of priority Xehanort would have, but still he fought against his own muscles to break free.

"It's the rat!" Aqua said, trying to smack something off of his head. Again he was forced to duck.

"What the heck, Aqua, you said rats can't understand, now you're telling me a rat's _possessed_ me?" Well, at least he had control of his mouth. That was something.

Finally she managed to snatch the rat off his head. He cried out as it held onto his hair, ripping out a few strands as Aqua pulled him free.

"Ow." Vanitas rubbed his head and glared at the rat, which Aqua held with a Bind spell. "What was that for, huh? I was just joking about making you my minion. You didn't have to go and make me yours."

The rat's eyes — the only part of him not bound fast by the spell — drifted downward. Almost like he was actually sorry.

"What did you want, anyway? Someone to pick up all this food for you?" He spread his jacket, displaying the fruit that was still tucked there. "You could've asked."

"It can't talk," Aqua repeated, understandably exasperated. He hadn't expected his joke to end with getting paraded around like some kind of meat puppet. That had to have been scary for her, too.

"Well… fine. Whatever. But you _can't_ do that again," Vanitas told the rat. "Or else we'll hang you out for the Heartless."

The bind spell began to weaken, enough for the rat to nod frantically. Aqua still looked vaguely shell-shocked.

"Alright… so the rat can understand things. Maybe he's not too different from Jaq… except Jaq wore clothes, and he could talk..."

"Okay little guy, I think you're freaking out my girlfriend. Go on, time to scram," Vanitas reluctantly said. The bind spell broke and the rat squirmed out of Aqua's grip, but he still stared up at Vanitas expectantly.

"I'm not _freaked out,_ I'm – alright, I am a _little_ freaked out," she admitted. "He was controlling you by pulling your hair. I know quite a bit about outworld fauna, but I haven't heard of any animals that could do that before. This can't be an ordinary rat."

The rat put his tiny fists on its hips, lifted his head, and smirked knowingly. His wordless gestures reminded Vanitas of his Inversed.

"Is it a good idea to leave him here then?" He asked. "I lived in this world before, and I don't think there were any rats like him here either. You think he's from another world?"

The rat nodded again, scampering closer to Vanitas. He stepped back, not wanting to risk becoming a meat puppet again.

"Okay, right, you can answer yes-no questions. So…"

"Do you mean us any harm?" Aqua asked, crouching down a little – not too close, though.

The rat raised his arms and shook his head so quickly his brain had to be rattling around in his little skull.

"I guess he _did_ just want me to pick up some fruit." Vanitas rubbed the metal piece covering his chin. "Right?"

He grinned and nodded, his tail standing up happily. Then he pointed between the fruit Vanitas was carrying and deeper into the woods.

"You want me to take this to your house or something?"

Another vigorous nod. Vanitas and Aqua made eye contact.

"Can't hurt, right?" He asked. It wasn't like the Norts would use a _rat_ in some kind of master trap. At least, he didn't think they would.

"Probably not," Aqua admitted, though her gaze warned him to stay on guard, just in case. He smirked back just enough to reassure her. They hadn't made it all the way through the Realm of Darkness without knowing how to be careful. Maybe that was overkill for dealing with a strange rat, but old habits died hard.

"Alright, little buddy. Hop on, but _no touching the hair."_

XXX

" _Sora!_ "

He jumped at the rather irritated, accented voice called as he, Donald, and Goofy strolled into the Tram Common. He'd just gotten here, who needed him already? Was Twilight Town in trouble?

"Huh?" Donald perked up, recognizing that voice a split second faster than Sora. "Uncle Scrooge?"

"Uncle Scrooge!" Sora grinned, running up to the squat duck who was standing near the entrance of a new, fancy-looking restaurant. Scrooge tapped his webbed foot impatiently, his beak curved into a frown. Sora frowned back in sympathy.

"What's wrong, Uncle Scrooge? I thought you were back in Radiant Garden," Sora said as Donald and Goofy caught up.

"Ach, don't play innocent with me, lad! Surely you can guess why I had to relocate," Scrooge huffed. "Yer lucky I'd begun looking at expanding me properties, or I'da been ruined!"

"Huh?" Goofy asked. "But we thought your business was booming! Did somethin' happen?"

"You bet yer bagpipes it did!" He scowled and poked his cane at Sora's chest. "And it's all yer fault!"

"Hey!" He raised his hands, stepping back. "Geez, Scrooge, I thought we were friends! What did I do?"

"What did you– what did you do?" By now the duck looked more furious than Sora had ever seen him – enough to attract the attention of the restaurant patrons who were eating out in the cool evening air. "Why, ye ransacked me ice cream shop just last week! Just because ye were in some kinna disguise dinna mean ye can fool a shrewd duck like meself!"

Scrooge's accent thickened as he got fired up, until it was almost impossible for Sora to understand. He'd just gotten back from being roasted by Yen Sid _and_ Mickey _and_ Donald and Goofy, he really didn't need Uncle Scrooge yelling at him too! Especially when he had no clue what he'd apparently done.

"Look, Scrooge – Scrooge!" He held out his hands, hoping to calm the duck before he bothered the restaurant's customers too much. "I don't know what you're talking about, but we've been in Olympus for the last few weeks. Right, Donald?"

He grinned at his friend, hoping he'd back him up.

"Sora's right, Uncle Scrooge. We're training to get our half-pint here back to a full pint!"

"Hey!" Sora shoved his shoulder. "I'm already more of a pint then you are!"

Donald just laughed, and pretty soon Goofy joined in.

" _Guys…_ "

Even Scrooge chuckled. Well, at least he didn't look so mad anymore. Now he was just confused.

"Well, if ye weren't in Radiant Garden, who was ransacking me shop? He looked jus' like ye, Sora."

"Just like me?" He crossed his arms, drumming his fingers against his forearm, before perking up. "You think it could've been Roxas?"

"Axel would know if Roxas was in Radiant Garden," Donald pointed out. "He would've called you by now."

"Huh… I guess you're right." Sora sighed, but pulled out his new gummiphone just in case. He poked at the screen a few times before Donald huffed and snatched it.

"You've got to turn it on first."

"Oh. Heh, right. I knew that."

With Donald's help, he checked his "text messages," but saw nothing from Axel – er, Lea.

"Aww…"

"So ye _don't_ know who was making monsters in me shop?" Scrooge asked one last time. Sora shook his head.

"Sorry, Uncle Scrooge. I don't know anyone who looks like me _or_ who can make monsters. Unless the Organization's already making replicas like Riku and Ienzo said might happen…"

"That's right – apparently they got Even's old research from the World That Never Was," Goofy said. "Gawrsh, you think they could be that fast?"

"Well… Kairi _did_ say that a lot of the Organization's back already… I don't know anything about replicas though." The gummiphone was hard enough for him to understand; why would he know about making new people? "All the Organization members she saw were ones we knew about from before, like Saix and Xigbar." He frowned, remembering what Xigbar had mentioned in Olympus. The hearts joined to his… was one of those hearts the mysterious doppelganger who'd attacked Scrooge?

"Hmm." Donald tapped his foot. "You better be careful Sora. After what those guys did to you last time–"

"I know, I know!" Sora replied, a little too defensively. They didn't have to keep bringing that up though; he _knew_ he'd been too weak. He was just trying his best; what else could he do? No one had warned him that the Organization would be in the Realm of Sleep, and–

"Uh, Sora?" Goofy tapped his shoulder, startling him out of this thoughts.

"What?"

Goofy pointed behind him, and he turned around. Walking up from around the corner of the buildings was–

...Himself?

XXX

"You live _there?"_ Vanitas said, gaping as the restaurant came into view around the corner. He didn't remember anywhere that fancy when he'd lived here, but it had been… what, sixteen years? Something like that. It made sense that a few new places would have cropped up since then.

The rat smiled and nodded from his shoulder. He'd kept his end of the deal and hadn't so much as sniffed Vanitas's hair on the whole trek here. Maybe he could end up being a friend after all.

Aqua gasped softly and stopped in her tracks.

"What?" Vanitas stopped too. "I know the sunset's pretty, but–"

And then he felt it. His heart sped up, just the way it had earlier in Castle Oblivion. He nearly dropped the fruit; Aqua quickly wrapped an arm around his back to steady him. But that feeling – he hadn't expected to feel it _here_ of all places, but he knew he hadn't imagined it.

"It's Ventus," he said, looking up to Aqua, who was staring at someone across the street. He followed her line of sight to…

"Whoa," he gasped too. The guy across the street was standing next to a giant dog and duck, but that wasn't why he stood out.

"That's him." Even from the back of his brunette head, Vanitas knew. "That's Sora."

His heartbeat calmed at the realization, though he was still a little unsteady. This was it – the moment he'd been both looking forward to and dreading. How would Sora react to having a copy? To finding out Ventus's heart was inside of him?

"Are you ready to go see him?" Aqua asked, still with her arm around him. His eyes flickered over to the boy on the other side of the street, who had turned to stare at him, mouth agape.

"Well we can't leave him hanging like that." Vanitas forced a grin. His heart started pounding again, but this time from normal anxiety. A Mandrake wanted to jump out of his skin.

"It's going to be okay," Aqua said, picking up on his mood even without the Unversed manifestation. "From what Lea and Riku said, everyone likes Sora, and Sora likes everyone. You've got nothing to worry about."

"I'm not–"

But he didn't get to finish his sentence. Sora was already running up to meet them.

Sora's eyes – _blue_ eyes – were wide. His spiky hair was a normal brown, not dark like his own. Other than that, they could have been twins, even more identical than him and Ventus. His hair was a bit shorter – Vanitas hadn't had a haircut since being back from the Realm of Darkness; he was suddenly aware of how his bangs fell in front of his eyes. Maybe he should keep it that way.

"Huh." He smirked to his nervousness. "You know, everyone said you looked just like me. I thought you'd be a little more attractive."

Aqua smacked him lightly, making the rat wobble on his shoulder. Vanitas laughed to release his tension; he'd never imagined meeting his doppleganger like this. He let the fruit spill out onto the top of an abandoned box. The rat would just have to deal with it; he didn't want to be weighed down in case he needed to… what? Run? Fight?

"Oh come on, now my own clone is roasting me? Rude." Sora pouted. "Guess I should expect that from you, Vanitas."

"Ventus." He smiled as his tension drained away. He might not know Sora, but Ventus he could deal with. "So I was right. Not that I doubted it."

He gasped, hand hovering over his mouth. "I don't – where did that come from? Who are you? Why do you look like me?" Sora demanded. "And why did you trash Scrooge's ice cream shop?"

"What?" He started before realizing what the other boy was talking about. Aqua was right about not being able to stop rumors; there was no other way Sora would know about that.

"Oh Van," Aqua said, noticing the angry top-hatted duck who was stomping his way towards them. "You never told him what really happened, did you?"

"I was _going_ to." Vanitas hid a wince and took a step behind Aqua. "I just… uh…"

"I know it was an accident, but you should still apologize," she said. "I'm sure Sora can wait a few minutes while you sort things out."

"I'm pretty used to waiting." Sora flashed a grin. "Just – don't take too long, okay? I'm confused enough already!"

The boy certainly had Ventus's bright energy. Layered with Vanitas's own face, it was pretty disconcerting. Maybe it would be good to have a moment to pull himself together–

"Ach! That's him alright!" Scrooge huffed, jabbing him in the side with his cane. _Or not._

"Hey, it was an accident!" He spilled out quickly, raising his arms and nearly knocking the rat off his shoulder again. It scrambled into the hood of his jacket to stay on. "It's uh – it's a long story, but I really like your ice cream shop, I wouldn't be stupid enough to try and wreck it."

"Well ye should'a thought that afore ye let those monsters loose!" He shook the cane, glaring through his tiny glasses.

"I told you, I didn't mean to. That's what _accident_ means," Vanitas repeated in exasperation. "Look, Scrooge, I'm really sorry. If you need help fixing things, my Inversed are good workers. Would that make it up to you?" He normally wouldn't have offered, but he didn't want to be on the bad side of one of the best ice cream makers he knew, especially if they ended up living in Radiant Garden after all.

Scrooge drummed his fingers against his cane. "Hmmm… the ice cream shop is nearly fixed by now. I could use some help around here though, particularly with my little chef missing – aye!"

His bill parted in a smile as the rat climbed back up onto Vanitas's shoulder.

"Why, ye found me little chef!"

" _Chef?"_ Vanitas asked. "The rat is a… okay, sure." He shook his head. He'd already met his doppelganger who held his brother's heart, and he'd been chewed out by a duck who could apparently travel between worlds. The fact that the rat could cook was hardly the most surprising part of his day.

"Well, I… guess I hafta thank ye, then." Scrooge shuffled his feet. "I'll still be takin' ye up on that offer, though. Ye _did_ cost me thousands o' munny in property damage."

Vanitas winced. He was supposed to be saving up munny for a place to live, not getting himself in debt to a business tycoon. Hopefully Aqua would forgive him for that.

"But we'll settle that later. Come inside, all o' ye. It sounds like there's a lot to talk about."


	7. Le Grand Bistrot (pt 2)

**A/N: I keep forgetting to say this, but thank you to those of you who've left kind reviews! I really appreciate it!**

He was here. With Sora. With the one who had saved Ventus's heart _._ And he was… coloring with a crayon on the back of a kid's menu.

"So, let me get this straight," Sora said while he scribbled waxy blue figure eights. "Ventus is one of the three hearts inside me. Somehow that makes you look like me, because you and Ventus are related... Somehow."

He looked up and met Vanitas's eyes over the table. It was uncanny, seeing his own face staring at him like that. Even worse than looking at Ventus, because at least _this_ face was supposed to belong to just him.

"I'm older than you. That means you look like _me,"_ he corrected. It would be pointless explaining how he was connected to Ventus. The whole situation had been complicated enough, even with Donald and Goofy asking clarifying questions and Aqua helping him explain everything. Besides, he still didn't have a concrete explanation for how Sora had taken his face. Or vice versa.

Sora frowned at that. "Okay, so I look like you. But I still don't get it. How did Ventus get inside me in the first place?"

Wasn't he listening? Vanitas had told the whole story, as far he knew it. He didn't want to repeat himself; saying it once had been exhausting enough. Floods of irritation prickled under his skin; he fought them off by gulping down his water. The icy chill in his stomach soothed away the emotions.

"We don't know for sure." Aqua steepled her fingers over the fancy tablecloth. "Ven... lost his heart shortly before I ended up in the Realm of Darkness. All we know is that somehow he found his way to you."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Sora said, hand hovering over his heart. "But last time I had to get someone's heart out of me… it wasn't easy."

"Not easy?" Donald shook his fork at him. "You turned into a Heartless!"

"We won't let Sora do that again," Goofy said, his normally calm expression turning intense.

"You were a Heartless?" Vanitas balked. They might share the same face, but he could smell it – Sora had light rolling off of him in waves. How could the other boy have become a monster of darkness?

"...It's a long story," he answered after sharing a look with Donald and Goofy.

"But that's why we're helping Sora find the Power of Waking," Goofy said. "With that, he should be able to help all sorts of hearts connected to his!"

"Power of Waking?" Aqua frowned. "I've never heard of that."

A kind of magic Aqua hadn't heard of? That was a first.

"It's a power I was supposed to get in the Sleeping Worlds," Sora explained, going back to scribbling on his menu. "I don't really know what it is either, though."

"Aww, don't tell them that," Donald whispered. "They're counting on you, Sora."

"I know. Them and everyone else." He sighed. The blue crayon squeaked as it left a dark mark on the paper.

"Sora," Aqua said softly, prompting him to look up. "I know how it feels to have people counting on you. It can be hard to believe you're strong enough to help everyone who needs saving. But you're not alone."

"Yeah," Vanitas interjected with a grin. "There's literally two of us now."

Aqua shoved his head without looking at him, but he didn't miss the hint of a smile tugging her lips.

"You can ignore him."

But Sora was snorting in laughter. Sheesh, Vanitas hoped his own laugh didn't sound that stupid.

"No, Aqua, Vanitas – you're both right." The laugh was enough to snap Sora of of his funk. "The Power of Waking might be my responsibility, but I won't be alone. Donald and Goofy have been helping me this whole time, and with both of you trying to save Ventus, I know we'll come up with something!"

That was a lot more enthusiasm than Vanitas expected; it was still freaky seeing those expressions flash past on his own face. The excitement was somehow more fitting on Sora, though. Maybe that's what Vanitas would look like if he'd been the half of light when he and Ventus were split.

"Good." Vanitas nodded, saving those other thoughts for later. "So… what 'something' are we coming up with?"

"Can we at least bring you to see Ventus?" Aqua asked. "I don't know much about this Power of Waking, but bringing his heart closer to his body might trigger a reaction."

"Yeah," Sora said. "I'm willing to give it a shot!"

At that moment a waiter came by with their food, interrupting something Donald was about to say.

"Thanks!" Sora grinned, accepting some sort of fish dish that the young waiter set down. "Wait a second – Hayner?"

The blond waiter winked. "Can't chat on the job, Sora! Gotta make some munny if I want watermelon at the beach!"

He quickly slid the remaining plates across the tablecloth before sloppily saluting.

"Stick around and we'll catch up after my shift's over!"

With that, he rushed back to the kitchen.

"Man, they were right about you being popular," Vanitas commented before digging into his meal, or at least trying to. He still hadn't gotten the hang of using utensils yet; he usually didn't bother when it was just him and Aqua. But even Donald and Goofy were using forks and spoons. He could prove he was at least as competent as them.

"Heh." Sora smiled and scratched his nose. "It's no big deal. I just tend to run into old friends."

Vanitas wasn't really listening now though; he was busy trying to stab his fork into his stew dish – something called 'Beef Bourguignon.' Honestly he had no idea what that meant, but the picture on the menu had looked good, and he soon found that the savory taste lived up to it.

"So, uh, Vanitas," Goofy began, putting down his spoon and rubbing his chin. "We heard Yen Sid wanted us to save three missing keyblade wielders, Terra, Aqua, and Ven. Why didn't he tell us about you?"

Vanitas winced, holding in a Hareraiser. He and Aqua had glossed over some of the more… incriminating parts of his story. Namely, the parts where he'd released his Unversed over the worlds, forged the X-Blade, and nearly destroyed Ventus.

"No one knew he was still alive," Aqua tried to cover. She put a hand on his leg under the table, using her other to take careful bites of her mushroom dish. He placed his hand over hers and took a deep breath. The Unversed inside settled down. What was wrong with them today? If he accidentally let them loose in _another_ one of Scrooge's restaurants…

"We didn't know you were alive either, Aqua," Donald pointed out.

"...It _is_ weird that Yen Sid wouldn't tell me about someone who looked just like me." Sora's head tilted with a frown. Void, why did he have to look at him like that? Vanitas was sure his blue eyes would cut straight through him, find every little crack in his facade of light. The Unversed were already trying to slip through those cracks now. He hastily shoved another chunk of meat into his mouth, forgetting to use his fork.

"Van, it's alright," Aqua whispered to him. But how could she know? How could she know these three wouldn't turn on him, just like Lea had? They could see his golden eyes, they had to be thinking—

"Wait a second," Goofy said. "Vanitas. Didn't the King mention that name a long time ago? Around the same time we met Ventus and Aqua?"

He swallowed the lump of meat, trying not to choke. Panicked Floods tingled under his skin.

"That's right, he was–" Donald's eyes narrowed before Aqua loudly cleared her throat, cutting him off.

"Twelve years is a long enough time for _anyone_ to change." She fixed her gaze on both of them in turn. It was too late, though. They knew. They knew what he's done, they _remembered._ Even if his more rational side said they could talk through this, his Unversed – his heart – didn't get the memo. The creatures boiled up like a hot geyser ready to burst, his skin a thin shield between them and the people around him. He had to get out of here, he had to—

"Van!" Aqua called as he slid out of the booth and dashed towards the bathroom, knocking plates of food out of a waiter's hands in his haste. "Van, wait!"

But he couldn't wait. Bruisers and Floods were pounding against the inside of his skin. He should've ran for the front door, but there were so many people outside, so many people _everywhere,_ he couldn't do it, he should just go back to the Realm of Darkness where it was just him and Aqua and no one stared at him like that, like he was still a monster—

He burst into the bathroom, locked himself in a stall and leaned against the door. His fingers dug into his hair, trying to push down the Unversed screaming inside him. Why, _why_ were they still there, always waiting for him to screw up? He'd thought his Inversed would make them easier to control. He'd thought the schism inside him might be healing. But here he was, still too dangerous to be trusted.

His defenses finally broke; Bruisers and Floods came streaming out of him. Anger and Fear. He struck them down as quickly as they appeared, hoping it would be enough. Pain laced through him at each strike, but he could handle it, should be able to handle it. If he hadn't gotten weak since returning to the Realm of Light…

Eventually the emotions were exhausted, leaving Vanitas panting and a screen of smoke hanging in the air.

"Pathetic," he muttered, shaking his head and dismissing Void Gear. "I should be able to control them by now… what's wrong with me?"

He was supposed to be good. Aqua trusted him — she loved him. He wouldn't let her down by slipping back to the person he once was.

Suddenly he heard the bathroom door open, followed by a tentative voice.

"Vanitas?"

 _His_ voice. Sora's voice. Why was he here? If anyone was going to find him, he'd expected it to be Aqua.

He kept his mouth shut. What was he supposed to say? Sorry for running off like a moron? He had no idea what kind of excuse Aqua had made up for him. His face heated; he shouldn't have left her in that position, having to clean up his mistakes.

"Hey, uh… your food's gonna get cold," Sora added. Vanitas almost laughed. It sounded like such a stupid thing to worry about now, but he didn't want good food to go to waste either.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be there in a second," he said as evenly as he could.

"Okay… do you need anything? I've got some potions if you—"

"I'm _fine,"_ he said, harsher than he meant. He blinked, realizing a Flood had snuck out with his outburst. "Get back here!"

"Huh? I can stay if you want."

"No, not _you_ ," he huffed, diving under the stall to chase after the wayward Flood.

Sora shouted when the Flood escaped Vanitas and reared up at him. "Heartless?"

His Keyblade was out and striking down the Unversed before Vanitas could scramble out from under the last stall. A twinge in his heart signaled the Fear returning to him.

"What was that? Did you follow that thing in here?" Sora asked as Vanitas cursed and brushed himself off.

"Not exactly," he said with a sigh. Was there any point in lying about it? Sora and the others would find out sooner or later. As much as he tried, he couldn't control his Unversed one hundred percent of the time, not matter how much stronger he got. He'd have better luck ripping out his heart altogether.

"They're not Heartless. They're Unversed," he explained while taking a seat on one of the fancy bathroom benches. He didn't know why a bathroom would normally need places to sit, but it came in handy now. "Your two friends probably remember them, if they remember me. They're— they come from my emotions."

"Your… emotions?" Sora asked, sitting down next to him. He scooted as far away as the bench allowed.

"Yeah. It's a long story. Usually I can control them, but sometimes…" He shook his head, his bangs falling into his eyes. It had been so much easier to explain this to Isa and Lea; they both had histories with the darkness themselves. But Sora? He was about as light as they came. How could he understand?

"I think I get it," Sora said though, making him look up in surprise. Even more strange was the pensive look on his face, the small frown and worried brow. "Sometimes it just happens, and you can't stop it. And you're afraid you're going to hurt someone you care about, so you try to hold it, but sometimes, that's just not enough."

"...How would _you_ know that?" Vanitas asked. Sora smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes.

"I told you I got turned into a Heartless once, right?"

"Yeah…?"

"Kairi saved me, but there were still some… side-effects. The darkness used to come back sometimes while I was fighting, turning me into a… well. We just called it Anti Form. It was… it was terrifying," he finished in a whisper before shaking his head. "But this isn't about me. Sorry."

"Geez, you're gonna be one of those id— people who apologizes all the time too, aren't you," Vanitas forced a grin. "I'm glad you told me. Here I thought you were a perfect shiny kid just like Ventus."

"Heh. I'm far from perfect, but I do my best. I just don't want to let my friends down."

"You won't," he said firmly. He'd only known Sora for a few hours, but his determination was obvious. "It's okay to have darkness in you, too. Trust me. Even Aqua learned that when we were in the Realm of Darkness, and she was as light as you."

"I know it's okay, it's just… scary." He chuckled, placing a hand over his heart. "And now I don't become the same monster I used to, but I get so — so _angry._ And afraid… I almost lost to Xehanort before. My best friend had to save me, but I almost..."

"They almost got you too, huh," Vanitas realized. "Just like they wanted Aqua." _And me,_ he didn't say.

"...Yeah," Sora admitted. "I was too weak to stop him…"

"Shut up," Vanitas said, making Sora look up sharply. "Aqua said the same thing, and you're both wrong. Xehanort's not the kind of guy _anyone_ can face on their own. That doesn't make you weak."

"You're right… I don't have to do it on my own." He smiled a little, gripping the crown hanging from a chain around his neck. "And for the record, you're not weak either. For not being able to control your emotions, I mean."

Vanitas let out a low laugh. "You really think so?"

"I _do_ think so. It can't be a bad thing to feel, right? And you're not alone, either. Even if you make a thousand monsters, we'll be right here to help you clean them up." Sora grinned. Maybe that didn't fix the real problem, but Vanitas guessed it was nice of him to try.

"Good luck with that. My Unversed aren't pushovers." He smiled back, showing a little bit of teeth.

"Well I'm no pushover either!" Sora laughed and stood, extending a hand to Vanitas, who stood without taking it. Maybe he should have, though. It was the kind of gesture a friend would give.

"Anyway. That's enough sharing for one day. Let's get back before our food gets _really_ cold."

When they left the bathroom, though, Aqua was hovering close to the door. Her eyes were wide with worry; had she been waiting here this whole time? Her food must be cold, too. He'd have to make it up to her.

"Van? Are you…"

He cupped her face and stretched up, kissing her firmly on the lips.

"Perfectly fine, Aqua. I'll talk to you about it later, okay?"

"...Okay," she said, face red as she glanced at Sora out of the corner of her eyes. The other boy was just standing there with a wide, stupid grin on his face.

"What are you looking at?" Vanitas challenged, another Flood threatening to escape. There was something wrong with him today, alright. But he could handle it long enough to finish their dinner.

"N-nothing!" Sora raised his hands before putting them behind his head. Aqua chuckled and led them back to the booth, where Donald and Goofy had nearly finished their meals. They both looked a little abashed upon seeing Vanitas. Their eyes fell back to their half-empty plates, but they didn't move to eat.

Great. So even after talking with Sora, everything was still going to be awkward.

 _You signed up for this,_ he reminded himself. _The minute you committed to turning towards the light, you knew what it would be like._ Then again, back then he'd only expected to deal with Terra and Ventus… which bound to be an even bigger mess.

But it was okay. He was strong, and he _wasn't_ alone. He could handle it.

He dug back into his food, which wasn't as cold as he'd feared. For a while the only sounds were their chewing and the faint instrumental music that permeated the restaurant. Then Sora got talking with Donald and Goofy about something to break the awkward silence.

"Can I try some of that, Van?" Aqua asked, pointing her fork at his beef stew.

"Only if I can take a bite of yours." He smiled back, thankful that she didn't seem upset with him. He'd still apologize later, and maybe she could help him figure out what was wrong with his Unversed. Better not to worry about it now, though; that would only make the monsters more likely to appear.

Aqua's meal was some kind of mushroom loaf — it didn't actually look that tasty, but Vanitas wasn't picky. He reached over and took a big chunk out with his fork while Aqua scooped some of his food onto her plate.

"...It's cold," he said after swallowing the strange-textured food. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, it's a terrine," she answered. "They're usually served cold."

"Oh. Weird." He shrugged and stole another bite.

"You two sure are close, a-hyuck," Goofy said. He certainly seemed in a better mood than he had earlier, when he'd almost accused Vanitas of— the things he'd done. The things he shouldn't have tried to hide in the first place. Was he going to have to spill his guts to everyone he met, just to keep them from bringing up his past?

"Vanitas is my boyfriend," Aqua said with a bright grin — but her eyes narrowed, as if daring Goofy or Donald to challenge her. Vanitas's heart pounded; she looked so good when she was ready to fight.

The duck and dog shared a look of surprise, but Sora was the one who spoke up.

"Must be nice, getting to go on adventures together," he said wistfully, either ignoring or not noticing the tension.

"It is," Aqua replied. "We're actually looking for somewhere to stay for a while, though."

"Adventuring's great and all, but it would be nice to have a bed for once in my life," Vanitas added, his fear slowly draining. It didn't matter what anyone else thought, as long as Aqua was with him. Though it _was_ nice that Sora seemed to trust him too.

"We'll still be helping fight the Organization, but we just need a break after the Realm of Darkness and… everything. Just for a little while."

"Oh, yeah, I get it." Sora nodded. His voice was quiet, respectful. "I was there once, in the Realm of Darkness. I can't imagine being trapped there for as long as you guys were."

Vanitas shrugged. "Could've been worse. Could still be there now."

That was a thought that still came to him sometimes, usually when he was alone and trying to sleep. When they spent the night in inns and didn't share a room, when he had no other noise to comfort him besides his own breathing, he imagined he could hear it. The Dark Wind, whispering in his ears, threatening to take Aqua away from him again, threatening to drag him back into the darkness…

He pushed down the Floods that threatened to sprout between his shoulder blades. He wasn't in the Realm of Darkness. Aqua wasn't gone. Everything was fine; why were his Unversed so touchy today?

 _Why am_ I _so touchy?_

Noticing his discomfort, Aqua steered the conversation away from them – asking about Sora's travels, what he'd learned in Olympus, if he'd ever met someone named Zack. Vanitas didn't know who that was; he'd have to ask later. Sora was eager to talk about his time training with Herc – apparently he'd learned how to run up walls and summon amusement park rides out of nowhere. The other boy had to be making _that_ up, but Donald and Goofy didn't call him out on it.

Eventually all of their plates were clear – they'd all been too hungry to leave leftovers. Too bad; Vanitas would've snatched any food that had been left. Hayner came back to take their munny for the meal, which was _way_ too expensive if you asked Vanitas, but that was about what you could expect from Scrooge. If one dinner was this much, how long would he have to work to pay off the destruction his Unversed had caused?

"So, do you need us to go to Ventus now?" Sora rubbed the back of his neck as they left the Bistrot. "Cause I kinda… might have promised Hayner I'd stick around for at least tonight."

"Sora!" Donald squawked at him. "We don't have time to play!"

"Hey, this isn't just for fun! He said Pence might have a lead on Roxas. Something suspicious going on around the Old Mansion. It makes sense to check that out before we go."

"He's got a point there, Donald," Goofy chimed in before turning to Aqua. "We're sorry about Veggie–"

"Ventus!" Donald corrected.

"Uh, right," Goofy chuckled. "We're gonna help him as soon as we can!"

"It's alright." Aqua smiled. "Lea will be glad to hear you're working on saving Roxas. We can wait a little bit longer."

Inwardly, Vanitas breathed a sigh of relief. With the way his emotions were running today, he could only imagine what would happen when he woke Ventus up. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally sic a horde of Unversed on his brother.

"Thanks," Sora said to Aqua. "We're gonna check out the town while we wait for Hayner, Pence, and Olette to get off work, you guys wanna join us?"

Vanitas and Aqua shared a look. He frowned slightly, wishing he could show her what was going on with his Unversed. She must have gotten the message well enough though, because she shook her head.

"Thanks, but I think we've got something we need to take care of," she said vaguely. "We can meet you three back here tomorrow morning, if that's alright?"

"I don't know what Hayner's plans are…" Sora tapped his chin. "Can we just give you a call when we're done? That might be easier."

"Call?" Vanitas frowned. "That's dumb. Why would you yell for us when we could just meet here?"

"No, not like _that,"_ Sora laughed. "See, Donald? I'm not the only one who doesn't know how to call people!"

"They've been in the Realm of Darkness for twelve years; what's your excuse?" Donald snapped back, crossing his arms. "So Chip and Dale didn't give you two a gummiphone?"

"I don't think so." Aqua frowned. "What's a gummiphone?"

"This!" Sora pulled a rectangular device out of his pocket, grinning proudly. "Ta-da!"

Vanitas crossed his arms. "What, am I supposed to be impressed by some kind of brick?"

"It's not a brick, it's a… okay, I don't really know what it is. Or how it works," Sora admitted, ruffling his hair. "But it lets you see people and talk to them even when you're really far away!"

"Really?" Aqua asked, stepping closer to peer at the device. "That would have come in handy when Terra, Ven, and I were travelling."

"It's pretty nice. But not very useful if you don't have one too, huh…" Sora frowned for a moment before lighting back up. Vanitas wondered if he'd ever get used to that unbridled excitement on his face. "I know! Chip and Dale left us a spare in the gummi ship, right?"

"Yeah, but that's in case you break yours," Donald said. Sora waved a hand.

"Pff, I'll be fine! They need it more than we do. Hold on, I'll be right back!"

With that, Sora ran off up the street towards the clocktower.

"Sora!" Donald called after him, his webbed feet running frantically to catch up.

"Wait for us!" Goofy ran after them.

Aqua laughed, and soon Vanitas joined in.

"Sora's something else," he said. "I get why everyone around here is so crazy about him."

"Why, because he shares your good looks?" Aqua surprised him with a smirk.

"Hey, you better not be getting any ideas," Vanitas jabbed a finger at her side, and she jerked away laughing from the tickling sensation.

"You're cute when you're jealous," she teased back.

"Jealous?" He faked offense. "He might share my handsome face, but I've got his scrawny muscles beat any day of the week."

"I'll give you that one," she said, face heating as she wrapped an arm around his waist and steered them closer to the side of the building, where there were less staring bystanders enjoying the cool evening. "What were you actually going to say about him, though?"

"Oh." His face flushed too at the memory. "It was so weird. He's got so much light, I can smell it coming off him in waves. But he wasn't afraid of my Unversed. And this might sound crazy, but I think he actually understood me. He told me about his problems with darkness too, and… we didn't sound too different."

He looked down at his open palms. Hands that bore scars from "trainings" with Xehanort and calluses from wielding Void Gear. Hands that Aqua took in hers, rubbing softly with her thumbs.

"You really opened up to him, didn't you." She smiled.

"I guess so." He shrugged. "Weird, huh. Never thought I'd make friends with my clone, but you were right. He really does know how to talk to anyone."

"Well I'm glad. I talked to Donald and Goofy while you were gone too — well, maybe _talked_ is the wrong word…" She looked away sheepishly.

"What happened?"

"I, um, _might_ have threatened Donald to shut his big mouth. Just a little."

"Aqua!" He cackled, squeezing her hands tighter. "You should've waited until I was there to see it!"

"It's not like I planned it ahead of time," she huffed, looking even more embarrassed now. "I feel bad, really. He didn't know what he was talking about. But, I think they know better than to talk bad about my boyfriend now."

"I'm sure they do." He looked away. "I guess he was just telling the truth, though. I _did_ hurt people back then."

"But you wouldn't now. You're already doing so much to make up for it."

"That's actually what I'm worried about, though." He let go of her hands. "You're right. I _don't_ want to hurt people anymore — except Xehanort, anyway. But my Unversed…" He shook his head. "That's why I ran out. It's been harder for me to control them today…"

"Everyone has bad days sometimes, Van. It's alright."

"But what if it's not just a bad day?" He asked, looking up with wide eyes. "What if I'm just — what if I'm getting worse?"

"...Do _you_ think you're getting worse?" She asked softly. He thought about that question before answering. What had he done lately? Had he done anything bad on purpose? He'd been training with his dark attacks as usual, but so had Aqua. They both trained with darkness and light now, and so far it had been working out for them.

"I… I don't know why I would be…"

She stepped closer, running her hand soothingly through his hair. His shoulders relaxed, and he exhaled deeply.

"I think you're doing great, Van. You've had a long day, between going to Isa's, and being honest with me, and seeing Ven, and coming here — you've dealt with so many people. That's hard even when you _don't_ have emotions literally coming out of you."

"Yeah…" He leaned into her shoulder, absorbing her soft, clean scent. Her arms moved to his back, caressing him gently.

"You've never talked to so many people in one day, have you?"

"I… guess not…"

"Unless you think there's something more to it, I bet that's what it is. Your emotions have been pulled in all sorts of directions. I bet if I could make Unversed I'd be having trouble with them today, too."

"Really?"

She nodded, which he felt more than saw. "It was really hard for me to be around people when I first got back to the Realm of Light. Be patient with yourself. You're already doing so much."

He wasn't sure if he believed that; he wasn't doing anything special. But considering who he used to be… maybe he _could_ be a little more patient, as impatient as he usually was.

"Thank you, Aqua." He smiled into her shoulder. She brushed her lips against his cheek, and –

"Ach, is this a bad time?"

Aqua pulled back suddenly, leaving Vanitas to nearly topple forward. He scowled and grumbled to himself while Scrooge chuckled.

"What do you want?" He asked abrasively. Probably a bad idea, considering he already owed the duck, but still. Couldn't he see that they were busy?

"Well." Scrooge straightened his hat with one hand; the other held something behind his back. "I meant to catch ye 'afore you left. Little Chef has something he'd like to give ye."

He held out the object he'd been hiding, a white cardboard box. Vanitas didn't waste any time in opening it. His face split into a grin when he saw what was inside.

"A cake?" His cheeks reddened – he'd practically sounded like Sora, with how excited he was about the dessert, but he couldn't help it. He hadn't had cake in – in _forever._

"Aww, that was sweet of him," Aqua said.

"Says the one who thought he was just a stupid rat." Vanitas grinned teasingly, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"He wanted to say thanks for helping him," Scrooge explained. "Oh, and it's not a cake. It's actually a _tarte aux fruits_."

Vanitas frowned, raising an eyebrow. "A tarta-what now?"

"A _tarte–_ oh, nevermind. You'll have time to learn the names once you start cooking with Little Chef."

"Once I– what?" The only "cooking" he'd ever done was when he caught marshmallows on fire back in the Realm of Darkness, if that even counted.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think Van has ever cooked in his life," Aqua echoed his thoughts.

"She's got a point. Look, I'm sure you think this is a good way for me to pay you back, but I'd probably just catch the kitchen on fire."

Scrooge chuckled. "Ach, dinna worry! Little Chef can fix ye up in a jiffy! Why don'tcha come back tomorrow and ye can get started?"

" _Tomorrow?"_ Vanitas balked. A Flood of surprise nearly popped out of him, but he reigned it in just in time. Maybe Aqua was right about the social interaction wearing him out.

"We're actually busy tomorrow," Aqua quickly interjected. Good, because Vanitas probably would've said something he'd regret. They were working on saving Aqua's friends, getting ready to kick Xehanort's butt – he didn't have time to get roped into working at a restaurant. Sure, he and Aqua _would_ like a break for a while, but cooking at a restaurant wasn't exactly what he had in mind. He could just imagine it – getting yelled at by the duck for skipping work to fight off a Heartless or one of the Xehanorts. It was such a stupid thought that he almost laughed.

"Ach, fine, fine," Scrooge finally waved them off. "But next time you're in town, I expect to see you here! Ye do owe me, lad!"

"Right…" Vanitas sighed. It was times like this that he missed being unapologetically dark. Hearts of darkness didn't get roped into cooking for greedy business tycoons.

"You better not be bothering them, Uncle Scrooge!" Donald's voice carried from across the street. Sora reached them before he did, still running at a breakneck pace.

"Whew. Man, I miss the skateboards," Sora huffed with his hands on his knees. "Here!"

He shoved another one of those "gummiphones" at Vanitas, who almost fumbled the cake before catching the phone on top of its box.

"Sheesh, do you ever slow down?" He shook his head. There was just so much going on, so many people — his Unversed began to bubble beneath his skin again.

"Not usually," Goofy said with a chuckle.

"I just didn't want to keep you waiting!" Sora grinned. "But now we can get ahold of you tomorrow. Unless you changed your mind and want to come along tonight?"

"Pass," Vanitas deadpanned, too exhausted to sound nice about it.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Aqua said with an apologetic smile.

"Oh – okay then!" Sora still looked cheery as ever. "See ya!"

Goofy pulled Donald away from Scrooge mid-rant. Vanitas hadn't been paying attention to the ducks, but he thought he caught something about Aqua in there. Too many voices to listen to…

"Van?" Aqua shook him slightly, and a Flood bolted out of him.

"Sorry," he said quickly, grabbing and reabsorbing it before it could get far.

"You don't have to apologize," she said, taking his hand. Thankfully Sora, Donald, and Goofy were already gone; they must have left in the few seconds he'd spaced out. Scrooge was still there, though, for some reason. The duck cleared his throat before Aqua could finish what she was saying.

"Er… I normally wouldn't offer, but me nephew says you two are important to all their world-savin' business. If ye need a place to stay, I've got a couple rooms above the Bistrot. They still need quite the renovation, but the lights and water are up and running."

"Really?" Aqua asked. "How much will it cost us to stay the night?"

Scrooge murmured something under his breath.

"Can't hear you," Vanitas said.

"Free of charge," he said louder, though he didn't sound happy about it. "Courtesy of me nephew. As long as I don't see any more damage from you, that is."

"You won't," Vanitas promised. Too rashly, probably, but a free indoor place to stay was hard to come by. He could hardly believe _Donald_ of all people had paid for it. Aqua really must have torn into him while Vanitas was gone.

"Thank you so much." Aqua smiled. "Is it alright if we go up now, Mister Scrooge?"

"Ah, please, lass! Just Scrooge is fine. Come along, it's right through the restaurant."


	8. Le Grand Bistrot (pt 3)

**A/N: I thought about saving this update for Vanqua week at the end of May, but I finished it and decided it's been long enough since I updated lol**

Vanitas set down the cake, flopped on the dusty bed, and coughed when he tried to take in a relaxing breath. As busy as the Bistrot was, this room looked – and smelled – like it had been abandoned for ages. The wallpaper was peeling away from the walls; the carpet was stained with some unidentifiable dark substance. Aside from the perpetual sunset filtering through the grimy window, a flickering electric bulb provided the only illumination.

It was perfect.

"Van?" Aqua peeked in and asked after dropping off her backpack in the room next door. "How's the room?"

"Absolutely fantastic," he said, for once without a trace of sarcasm. "You think Scrooge would let us stay here longer than one night?"

She came and sat down beside him, making the bed bounce gently.

"I don't know. It doesn't look like anyone else will use it until he finishes renovating. It might cost more than we can afford, though."

"Probably." He sighed. From the look she gave the room, it wasn't just the money she was worried about – probably germs or something, from the way her brow creased at those carpet stains.

"If we had the choice, though — is this a world you'd like to stay in?" She asked after appraising the room.

"Would you?" He asked, putting his hands behind his head. He _did_ like Twilight Town, for a number of reasons. Good food. Cool woods. Warm sunsets, not too bright, not too dark. And somehow, despite how long it had been, it still felt like home. But it wouldn't necessarily feel the same to Aqua. Maybe she'd like a place that felt more like the Land of Departure.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "We didn't see much of it yet. But we know there's Heartless, which means we could be useful here."

"And we could get munny," he added, and she laughed.

"If it doesn't all go to Scrooge first."

"Yeah…" He grimaced and sat up. "Sorry about that. Maybe we shouldn't stay here, if we don't want him taking everything we own."

"Oh, I don't think he's _that_ bad. He gave you that cake for free, after all." She nodded at the box sitting next to him.

"It's not reallyfrom Scrooge though. It's from the rat." He opened the box again, staring at the tempting desert. He'd eaten so much food earlier, but it looked so delicious… At the same time, some instinct left over from his time with Xehanort made him want to save it for later, just in case. He never knew when they might not be able to come by food again.

"We can eat it now, if you want." Aqua laughed at the longing look on his face. He blushed, pushing those older paranoid thoughts aside.

"What do you mean 'we'?" He covered it with a grin, drawing the box into his lap. "I never said anything about sharing."

She raised her eyebrows. A mischievous glint entered her eyes.

"So that's the way you want to play it, hmm?"

Then without warning she swooped in at him, tickling his sides until he cackled and nearly dropped the cake.

"Aqua!" He cried out between laughs. "I was kidding, kidding!"

"Sure you were." She smirked as she left her arms around his middle and dropped her chin onto his shoulder, surrounding him in warmth.

"Okay, I was _mostly_ kidding." He swiped a finger across the custard around the edge of the cake-tart-thing and licked it. It tasted as delicious as it looked, smooth and creamy and sweet. He had to hold in an embarrassing noise of delight.

"You didn't even wash your hands," Aqua said, but she reached around him and plucked off one of the strawberry slices.

"You can go wash your hands if you want. I can't promise there'll be any cake left by the time you get back though." He scooped up more cake onto his finger, waving it near her face before licking it clean. _So good._

"I suppose I'll just have to take my chances then." She took off her gloves before scooping out a whole handful of the creamy cake.

"Hey!" He stuck her tongue out at her – and to his surprise, she dropped part of her cake on it. He swallowed it before laughing. "Wait til the others find out the always-proper Aqua eats with her bare hands. I really have rubbed off on you."

"Shut up or I'll just have to rub something back," she teased, holding up her dirty hand. He raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a challenge?"

"That depends. Do you want to ruin the rest of the cake?"

"...Man, you're really playing dirty this time." He shook his head, making sure to get another handful of cake before she could eat it all out from under him. They stuffed their faces in silence for a few minutes before Aqua's arms gave him a gentle squeeze again. Oops. Maybe he shouldn't have eaten so much after all; the soft gesture hurt more than it should have.

"Are you feeling better now?" She asked close to his ear.

"I'm fine. Just ate too much cake, that's all," he brushed off her worry.

"No, I meant about earlier. With your Unversed." She cut back to their earlier conversation now that there wasn't any risk of being overheard or interrupted. He'd expected her to drop it, since she'd said he was probably just stressed from talking to so many people. But he thought about it, reached down, and didn't feel any negative emotions squirming too close to the surface.

"They've calmed down. I think the cake did the trick." He grinned, and she chuckled.

"Maybe you'd have a good time cooking with Little Chef, then. If food's all you need to stay calm."

Vanitas looked up in surprise, almost bumping his nose against her face. "Wait, you think I should do it?"

She shrugged. "That's up to you. I think it's sweet that you offered to make things right, but Scrooge isn't exactly hurting for munny, and I think he'll understand that we're busy with keyblade wielder responsibilities."

"So… I _shouldn't_ do it?" He tried to read her face.

"Van, I'm not going to tell you what to do," she said patiently, squeezing his hands. "If you want to do it, then do it. If you don't, then we can make Scrooge understand. It's not a big deal."

He frowned to himself – _did_ he want to cook with the rat? It seemed so stupid, especially after his quick denial earlier, but he still felt the sweet taste of dessert on his tongue. It _would_ be nice to learn how to make stuff like that.

"I thought you wouldn't want to waste time," he said hesitantly. "We need to wake up Ventus, and find Terra. And I bet we'll be fighting Xehanort sooner rather than later."

They hadn't talked about that much since the attack at the Castle of Dreams, but the threat still hung in the air. As much as he just wanted to enjoy spending time with Aqua, they couldn't ignore the war forever. They would have to fight. Vanitas _wanted_ to fight, just… not yet.

Not when he would be risking more than just his own life this time.

"I know." She sighed, running her hand back and forth over the dusty sheets. "We're already ahead of schedule, though. I didn't expect to find Sora so quickly."

"What's with that look?" He raised an eyebrow when she kept staring off into space. "I thought you'd be thrilled. You want Ventus back, don't you?"

"I do, it's just… nothing," she lied, arms wrapping around herself. So her argument with Donald hadn't been the only thing on her mind. How had he missed all of this earlier today? Was he too wrapped up in his own Unversed problem, or was she just that good at hiding her emotions without a mask? She'd been more quiet than usual since running into Sora and his two friends, but he hadn't thought much of it at the time.

"Come on, Aqua. You don't have to release a bunch of Unversed for me to know something's up." He slowly put an arm around her, which she leaned into without hesitation.

"It's stupid," she murmured. "You're right. I should be happy. I _am_ happy."

He snorted. "Aqua, you suck at lying." To his face, anyway. Apparently she wasn't so bad at hiding before.

"...I know," she said miserably. Okay, something must _really_ be up for her to not even try to argue back. "I just… it really is stupid. I can believe Ven will forgive you, but somehow I find it harder to believe he can forgive… me," she finished quietly.

Vanitas blinked. "You're right. That is stupid."

That was the wrong thing to say. He felt it as soon as it came out of his mouth. Aqua's shoulders shook with repressed tears.

"That's not what I meant, I mean— ugh, _I'm_ the stupid one," he muttered. "Aqua, why would Ventus be mad at _you?_ All you've done is try to save him. You're the best friend he could ask for."

"But it's taken me so _long!"_ She burst, digging her fingers into the blanket on either side of her legs. "It's been _twelve years._ He's missed so much, there's so much I'll have to tell him. I was thinking about it at the restaurant — he doesn't even know that the Master is… that he's…"

"...Oh," Vanitas realized. That hadn't even occurred to him. The last thing Ventus would remember was the Keyblade Graveyard, unless he also remembered the times he'd come to Vanitas in his dreams.

"And he doesn't know that Terra's gone either. He might take that even harder. Terra was like a brother to him…"

"That… yeah. That does suck." Vanitas nodded. What else could he say? "It's not your fault, though. You did everything you could. He can't blame you for what happened to them."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." She wiped her eyes on the back of her glove. "One of the last times we met, well… he blamed me for pushing Terra away. I don't know if he still will. And that's not even touching the fact that I fell in love with _you."_

A guilty Mandrake squirmed in his chest. Stupid; he shouldn't feel guilty for the one good thing that had ever happened to him. But for all his jokes when they were in Ventus's chamber, he felt a lot less confident now.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she apologized quickly, seeing the pain on his face even though he'd kept the Mandrake in. "I'm _glad_ I love you, Van. I won't give that up for anything, not even Ven."

"You're sure?" He asked, setting the cake box aside, tucking his legs under him and turning to face her. His insecurity had come bubbling back up in that moment, fear that he still wouldn't be a match for her real friends, even after everything—

"I _promise,"_ she said, cupping his face in her hands. "I'm so sorry. I know it will be hard for you to see him again, too."

"...Yeah, it will," he admitted. Despite everything he'd felt at meeting his brother again, he didn't expect to handle things perfectly when he woke up. There was so much that could change… "I'm not worried about what he thinks of me anymore, though. I know that'll work out eventually. I guess I'm more worried… about losing you. Not like you'll leave me or anything," he clarified quickly. "But things will change. It won't be just you and me anymore."

"I… have thought about that," she said quietly, scooting closer on the bed to where she could run her fingers through his hair. That soft action never failed to comfort him. He wanted to lean in and kiss her right there, stop worrying about Ventus and Xehanort and whatever else might happen to them. Just him and her against the world. But that was the thing about Aqua — she could never be _just_ his, and he knew it. Her love for her friends was what made her _her._

"And what exactly did you think?" He asked. He'd done his personal best _not_ to think about it, but Aqua was always more prepared for the future than he was.

"I think… assuming Ven forgives us both anyway… we shouldn't change," she finally said.

"Really?" He looked up in surprise, and her hands caught in a tangle of his hair.

"Really," she said with more certainty. "I'm not ashamed of you, Van. And I can't let my fears about what they'll think stop me from being happy. They'll understand eventually – I believe that. But in the meantime… we should just be ourselves."

It was such a stark change from her earlier worries, but that was just Aqua. As soon as she talked about her problems, she could usually talk herself back out of them. Her motivational speeches were flawless even against herself.

"Well. If you can handle me being myself, I guess everyone else can get used to it too." He smiled, but there was still one doubt that nagged at him.

"But?" She asked, picking up on the subtle look in his eyes.

"But Ventus is going to stay with us, isn't he? I mean, I just assumed you'll want him around again." Vanitas tried not to let his lingering jealousy leak into his voice. "Things will change, even if we don't."

"...I guess we'd better see if he even wants to stay with us first," Aqua said reluctantly. "You might not have to worry about it."

Vanitas doubted it. For all of Aqua's concern, he doubted Ventus would leave her right after reuniting for the first time in over a decade. Things wouldn't be the same.

"He's going to forgive you, Aqua," he told her, holding her gaze. "He'd be stupid not to."

She smiled, pushing his bangs out of his face. "Thank you, Van."

"All I did was tell you the truth. You don't need to thank me for that." He shrugged.

"Oh, shut up and let me thank you anyway."

She pulled him into a heavy kiss, the kind that made his head spin and threatened to send Inversed streaking out of him. He had to pull away too soon when he felt the creatures pounding inside his chest.

"Van?" Aqua bit her lip, looking at him with concern. "I'm sorry, should I have…"

"No – Aqua, I'm fine." He flashed a grin. "Just… uh. Feeling too happy, I guess. It's hard to keep the Inversed down. Trust me though, it's a good problem to have."

"Oh." She blinked. "I didn't know that could happen."

"It usually doesn't. But y'know, I wouldn't mind having it happen again…"

He flashed a smirk, and she rolled her eyes before kissing him again. Hey, he was going to have to share her time with Ventus soon; he'd make the most of this.

He wasn't sure how long it was before she jerked back, sputtering.

"What?" He asked in surprise. "Crap, should I have brushed my teeth."

"Blech. Hair." She said, brushing it off her lips with a giggle. "Your bangs are getting kind of long."

"So are yours." He brushed them out of her eyes. "Seems like it grows a lot faster now that we're out of the Realm of Darkness. Maybe it's trying to catch up."

"I've noticed that, too. And you've gotten a little taller since we've been back."

"You noticed?" He grinned.

"Don't get too excited. I don't think you'll be passing me any time soon," she teased.

"We'll see about that." He smirked before placing a quick kiss on her cheek. "...We should be getting to bed, huh."

"Yeah," she sighed, caressing his face again. She certainly wasn't making it easy for him. "We've got a big day tomorrow."

"A good day," he said, trying to convince himself. He didn't need to be jealous of Ventus. Aqua was still his. That wasn't going to change, and that was what mattered.

"A _great_ day." She squeezed him one last time before sliding off of the bed. His face felt cold where her hand had been. "Goodnight, Van. I love you."

"Love you too, Aqua." Another Inversed wanted to leap at the words. If he ever got tired of hearing them, someone had better slap him.

Tomorrow _was_ going to be a great day. And no matter what it held, they would face it together.

 **A/N: Just a shortish chapter with some fluff before moving on to more plot stuff next time. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the Bistrot arc! It might be a while before they come back, but Vanitas will end up cooking with Remy at some point C:**


	9. Start Over

**A/N: For those of you who haven't already heard, this is going to be the last chapter of this fic. I don't want to turn it into writing the whole thing of fighting Xehanort and saving Terra because it would rehash a lot of KH3 (and also I just have so many other fics to work on). I still love this universe and my Van and Aqua here, but I don't think I'll be writing more of their adventures. Thank you for enjoying their journey so far though, it means so much to me!**

The gummi ship ride to Castle Oblivion wasn't the tense, quiet affair Vanitas expected. No, Sora was way too bubbly to allow that. Even though Vanitas just wanted to be left alone to keep his Unversed in check, the other boy insisted on asking him all sorts of questions.

"What was Ventus like?"

 _Stupid,_ his knee-jerk reaction almost slipped out. "Fine, I guess." _When he wasn't anywhere near me._

Sora's eyebrows quirked, as if he wasn't sure how to react to that. Still, that stupid grin stayed plasted to his face.

Vanitas scowled. "Why are you smiling like that, anyway? It's creeping me out."

"This ship runs on happy faces, a-hyuck!" Goofy called from the copilot's seat.

"That means the more you smile, the faster we get there," Donald pointed out as he swerved around an asteroid. Vanitas grimaced and clenched a fist over his stomach—gummi ships really weren't meant to make turns like that. He'd rather take his keyblade glider any day. Besides, his glider didn't run on _smiles._

"Come on, Vanitas! I know you've got a great smile," Sora encouraged. Which had the opposite effect.

"He does." Aqua smirked as she crossed her arms over the back of his chair.

"Yeah, well, so do you," he threw back. "And I don't hear anyone telling _you_ to smile."

She just chuckled and kissed him on top of his head.

The gummi ship _may_ have sped up a little after that. Maybe.

XXX

Even smiles couldn't hold off Vanitas and Aqua's anxiety forever, though. It settled over them like a familiar blanket as they drew closer to Castle Oblivion, as the ship landed on the dark grey outcropping, as they stepped out and stood before Aqua's distorted home.

Vanitas stepped close to squeeze her hand. "Are you ready?"

She nodded decisively. "Of course."

Behind them, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were staring up at the castle with even more trepidation.

"Ventus is _here?"_ Sora frowned.

"Yes. Have you been here before?" Aqua turned and asked.

"No, I… don't think so." He crossed his arms before whispering, "But it _does_ feel familiar…"

"Probably just has to do with your connection to us, somehow." Vanitas shrugged. "Come on, no point in wasting time."

Aqua opened the doors with Stormfall and led them in. She and Vanitas had talked about returning the Castle to its original state before they woke Ventus, but Aqua had decided against it in the end. She wanted to wait until Terra was back, and besides, Riku and Mickey might still be using the Castle to dig up what they could about Xehanort.

So Aqua guided them through twists and turns and up and down staircases—why did they have to go up just to go back down? It didn't make any sense—before they finally arrived at Ventus's chamber. Vanitas's heart pounded. What if whatever happened last time he was here happened again? But so far the strange dizziness hadn't returned.

Maybe he was actually ready this time.

"This is it," Aqua whispered at the door.

"Great!" Sora beamed. "So, we just go in there and…"

"Wake him up," Vanitas finished. Aqua nodded, her face tight with determination.

With another beam from her keyblade, the door swung open.

Again, he was momentarily blinded by the light pouring from the room. His eyes adjusted slowly as they entered and formed a half-circle around Ventus's chair. Part of him felt annoyed at that—Donald and Goofy didn't need to be here; they didn't have any connection to his brother. But then again, Vanitas didn't exactly have a right to be here, either. So he kept his mouth shut.

"We're here, Ven," Aqua whispered, kneeling in front of Ven's comatose form. "We're here to wake you up."

"This is… Ventus?" Sora looked confused. "But he looks just like…"

"Roxas," Donald interjected.

"He sure does." Goofy scratched the side of his head. "Just like Sora looks like Vanitas."

"Roxas. That's Lea's friend, right?" Aqua looked up, then frowned when Sora nodded. "But this is _definitely_ Ven."

"Yeah. Guess this Roxas guy is another ripoff," Vanitas tried to joke. He didn't really care who Roxas was—he just wanted his brother back.

He… _wanted_ Ventus back. Not to merge with him, not to fight. He just… wanted him back. The feeling kept surprising him.

"Come on, you've done enough staring." Vanitas finally grabbed Sora's wrist and tugged him to stand before Ventus.

"Wh-what do you want me to do?" The other boy asked.

Vanitas shrugged. "You're the hero everyone's crazy about. What do you normally do?"

"You'd better not say stab yourself!" Donald warned.

Oh. Right.

"I'm not expecting that," Vanitas clarified at the same time Aqua looked up with a grimace. "Look, just… can't his heart feel him? He's _right there."_

He pointed at Ventus's unconscious body—his _heartless_ body. It was a miracle he'd never turned into one of the monsters. Did he not have enough darkness for that?

Whatever, that didn't matter. What mattered was Sora getting his brother's heart back into him.

Sora closed his eyes, chewed his lip, and…

"Nothing." He sighed heavily. "I can't feel anything."

" _Nothing?"_ Vanitas snapped, grabbing the front of Sora's jacket. "My brother is _right there!_ I _know_ his heart's in you, even I can feel that! _How can you feel—"_

" _Van!"_ Aqua gripped his shoulder so tightly, he could feel her fingernails dig into his collarbone. "Leave him alone. He's trying his best."

Even as she defended Sora, though, there were tears in the corners of her eyes. Ventus was _her_ friend. She had more right to be devastated than anyone.

"I… sorry," he said quietly, releasing his grip on Sora's jacket. Behind him, Donald and Goofy lowered their weapons. Vanitas hadn't realized they'd been about to attack.

"No. _I'm_ sorry." Sora rubbed the back of his glove over his eyes. "Yen Sid was right… I still need the power of waking. I—I'm useless without it."

Goofy reached out, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. "Aww, Sora…"

"You're not useless." It was the kindest Vanitas had heard Donald's weird voice. "We'll figure it out. We always do."

"Not _always,"_ Sora responded darkly. A shudder ran down Vanitas's spine—that voice sounded too much like his own.

"You just got here," Aqua said. To anyone else she might sound confident, but Vanitas could hear the faint tremor in her words. "There might be a spell, or—or something. We don't have to give up yet."

She was grasping at straws. But they should've expected this. Sora didn't know how to wake Ventus up—he never had. They'd been stupid to think he could come in and magically fix their problems.

Vanitas knelt down by his brother while the others came up with and discarded useless plans. He could hear Aqua's voice grow more and more strained. He should stand up, comfort her—but nothing he could say would help.

"I promised her I'd help save you," he whispered.

Then on a whim—and for the first time since they'd been separated—he took his other half's hand.

There were no sparks. No feelings of magic, of power transferring from him into the empty husk of his brother. But maybe… maybe someone else would.

"Sora," he said, cutting off the tense conversation behind him.

"Yeah?" Sora's voice rose with hope. He knelt down when Vanitas waved him over.

"Just try." He held up Ventus's limp hand. "...Please."

Sora swallowed. "Of course."

The others were silent while Sora knelt and accepted Ventus's hand. Vanitas wasn't sure what he expected—something, nothing, anything—

 _Please, he can't be like this forever—_

A spark. Where their three hands touched, the moment before Sora's fingers twined with Ventus's, there had been a spark. Vanitas felt it travel from his hand down his arm before pulsing near his heart. It felt almost like an Inversed—a bright emotion that returned to him after being separated for too long.

"Did you feel that?" He asked Sora.

"Yeah." He blinked down at where his hand was now clasping Ventus's. "But I don't feel it now. Was that it?"

"What? He's still sleeping, that _can't_ be it."

"Okay, then just—give me a second." Sora squeezed his eyes shut. But just like last time, nothing changed. Donald and Goofy slumped behind him.

"Don't give up yet," Aqua pleaded, kneeling and placing her hand over Sora's and Ven's. "There's always a way. We're too close to give up now."

Vanitas nodded. "You did _something._ We just need to… I don't know, do it again."

"But _I_ didn't do anything. Unless… maybe we both did?" Sora looked into Vanitas's eyes. "I felt something when we were both holding Ventus's hand. What if we do that again?"

"It won't hurt to try," Aqua said, flashing a weak smile at him, then Vanitas. "Maybe he needs all of us. To believe in him."

Vanitas didn't know about _that_ , but he wasn't about to break Aqua's last hope. And the hand-touching idea itself had merit.

He took a deep breath and cupped his hands around the three already joined together—

And then his sight went dark.

XXX

" _You came back."_

 _Vanitas couldn't see Ventus's smile, but he could feel it._

" _Of course I did." Vanitas smiled back, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It was so… so_ light _here. "You're my other half. We can finally be whole again."_

" _Whole? No, that's not..." Ventus's voice was slipping away already. His light, too. Why, why now, Vanitas was so so close—_

" _Wait, stay with me!" Vanitas shouted._

" _I can't, remember?" But his voice was a little clearer again._

" _Yes, you can! You're—you're supposed to_ stay!" _Vanitas's throat felt thick. Ventus's heart was here, with him, he was going to be whole, finally, finally—_

" _You're_ already _whole," Ventus said, as if he could hear his thoughts. Maybe he could. They were one, weren't they? Their thoughts were the same._

 _So why was Ventus still fighting him?_

" _What do you mean? I'm not…" Was he? He was… forgetting something, something really important…_

" _You are. You remember. Your light… it belongs to you now."_

" _I…"_

" _You have to let me go, Vanitas. Your connection helped pull me from Sora. My heart—it's hanging in the balance now. If you keep me here, I'll never wake up."_

" _You'll…" Wake up? But why was he… he wasn't sleeping. They'd been fighting, and they were going to forge the X-Blade, and—_

"Vanitas." _His other half's voice came more forcefully. "You have to remember! There's people counting on you!"_

 _People counting on him? Stupid. No one would trust someone like him._

" _No—your memories are glitching, mixing with how I remember you! And your memories are becoming mine—Vanitas, you have to wake up! You have to wake me up!_ Now!"

 _The light struggled away, slipped through his fingers, just like the X-Blade had—_

 _Ventus was leaving him leaving him AGAIN no NO he couldn't go back he COULDN'T WOULDN'T BE BROKEN AGAIN—_

" _Remember, Vanitas!_ Aqua needs you!"

 _Aqua? Stupid, stupid, she hated him, she—_

No.

 _She… she didn't hate him. Something… happened. She…_

"Goodnight, Van. I love you."

 _What? How did—when did—?_

"Love you too, Aqua."

 _He… had he really said that? It felt…_

 _Right...?_

XXX

" _Van!"_ Aqua shook him, cast Curaga over him, shook him again. Nothing happened. _Nothing._

What if they'd woken Ven, only to lose Van in the process? No, Ven wasn't awake, either. If she lost _both_ of them…

Tears streamed down her face. Normally she hated crying in front of others, but it was just… too much. Holding onto hope, having it ripped from her fingers again, having _him_ ripped from her fingers again—she hated the way it stirred the darkness in her. All of her practice and meditation kept it from overflowing the way it would have a month ago, but she still felt its icy claws digging into her heart. Telling her that she'd been stupid, careless, to let the two boys connect again. What had happened last time? They'd merged into one and forged an infinitely powerful weapon. She didn't know what was happening now, but if it was anything like that…

"It's going to be okay, Aqua. I can still feel them."

Sora's hand was on her arm. When had it gotten there? He was no longer touching Ven or Van, who were still clasping hands despite both being unconscious. That… was a good sign, she guessed. Better than being limp, lifeless, dead.

"You… you can?" She asked, throat tight.

He nodded. "I felt a power go out of me—I think it was Ventus's heart. It seemed like it went into Vanitas."

Her blood ran cold as she stared at her two friends—both people she loved so much, in different ways.

"That… no. He… he wouldn't. He _couldn't."_

"Couldn't what?" Donald risked asking.

Aqua shook her head. "It's—nothing. It doesn't matter."

Vanitas wouldn't keep Ven's heart. He'd wanted to wake Ven too. He knew how much her friend meant to her. But what if he didn't have a choice? What if Ven's heart had escaped Sora only to get trapped in Vanitas—but that didn't even make _sense;_ if it could leave Sora, why couldn't it enter Ven's body again? Unless his heart had been separated too long, and his body could no longer accept it—

" _Please,_ Ven, Van," she whispered. She didn't dare separate the two boys' hands, but she did grip Van's free one. Laced their fingers together, squeezed it so lightly her knuckles went white. She could feel his pulse faintly through his palm, reassuring her.

"It's going to be okay," she repeated Sora's words, like a mantra to keep her darkness and fear pushed down. She'd been abandoned in this Castle once before, her mind was too ready to remind her. But it wouldn't happen again. It _wouldn't._ She'd find a way to dive into Van and Ven's own hearts if she had to, the way Riku had for her. She'd do anything to bring her boys home.

But she didn't have to.

Ven's chest rose with a sharp breath. Van's eyes fluttered open.

"They're okay!" Goofy smiled, hugging Sora and Donald tight.

Aqua's breath caught in her throat. Ven was—Van was—they were both here. Alive. _Whole._

She thought that would be enough to stop her crying, but all that emotion had to go somewhere. And she couldn't release Inversed like Van.

"Nnnn… why is my hand numb…?" Van mumbled, disentangling his fingers from Ven's and rubbing his eyes.

She pulled him into a hug, holding him so tight he probably couldn't breathe, she should let him go a little, he was fine, he was _fine,_ but still she clung to him and pressed a relieved kiss to his lips.

"You did it, Van. Light, you did it!"

Then she turned her attention to Ven, who'd been a little slower to wake—but, apparently, not slow enough. He was blinking at her with the disoriented expression of someone who hadn't used his eyes in twelve years.

"Uhhh… am I still dreaming?" Ven frowned and pinched himself.

Aqua released Van and pulled Ven off the throne and into her arms.

"No, Ven. You're awake. You're home."

"Huh. Well that's weird. 'Cause I could've sworn I saw you kiss—" A jolt seemed to run through him. He sprung to his feet. "Vanitas!"

"Woah, calm down—" Van tried to hold his arms out appeasingly, but Ven already summoned his keyblade—

Then promptly fell back to his knees and dropped it.

"You can't get up that fast!" Donald chided him. "You've been sitting down for—what was it?"

"Twelve years," Goofy said.

"This is going to be fun," Van muttered. Aqua's heart fell. She'd been so excited to see Ven conscious, she'd forgotten how she planned to explain everything to him. And then she'd kissed Van in her relief…

But Ven was _awake._ She could handle whatever came now.

She took both his hands and smiled. "Take it easy, Ven. It's a long story, but you're safe now. I promise."

Everyone was silent for a moment while Ven searched the faces surrounding him. It had to be overwhelming, seeing so many strangers—one of which was a former enemy, and another that looked like that enemy's twin—looming over him.

He took a deep breath. "I—I was really asleep that long?"

She nodded somberly and bit the inside of her cheek. "I'm so sorry, Ven. I wish I could've woken you sooner. I tried so hard—every day, I worked to make my way back to you, but I was stuck in the Realm of Darkness and—and I—"

Van put a hand on her shoulder when her voice cracked. "Aqua did the best she could. She thought about you all the time, trust me. It was pretty annoying."

Aqua smiled a bit, nearly halting out a laugh at his funny way of trying to comfort her. He hadn't even tried to defend his presence there, or complain at the fact that Ven had tried to attack him after he'd literally saved his life.

Ven stared at Van with such confusion, Aqua could practically see his brain stop working.

"You… what are you _doing_ here? Why did you… and Aqua…"

"Come on, don't tell me you don't remember. You were the one who reminded me when we almost got stuck together." Van grinned. Aqua just let out a relieved breath that he hadn't come straight out and said _I'm her boyfriend_ like she'd half-expected.

"I… that's right." Ven's eyes widened. "You were there. You gave my heart back to me."

Van shrugged. "That idiot did most of the work." He jerked a thumb at Sora, who made an undignified noise at the insult.

Ven's head swiveled between the other two boys. Back, forth, back, forth. Then he just laughed and dropped his head into his hands.

"Maybe I need to go back to bed."

" _No!"_ Aqua said. Definitely more forceful than necessary. Sora jumped.

"No," she repeated more softly. "This will all make sense…"

Van snorted.

"—Okay, maybe it _won't_ make sense, but we'll explain everything. Over food?" She glanced between Ven and her other companions, who nodded. The whole ordeal had been emotionally exhausting, to say the least. She knew Van at least would think that food solved all problems, and a moment to catch her breath would be welcomed.

"I _am_ pretty hungry." Ven grinned. "And hey, Aqua?"

"Yeah?" She asked quickly.

"I might not get what's happening, but I'm glad to see you."

Relief bubbled out in her laugh.

"Me too, Ven. Me too."

XXX

Apparently Ventus was still an idiot. He did have some memory of speaking with Vanitas inside his heart, but only after Vanitas told the whole story. And even then he wasn't entirely sure if Ventus _actually_ remembered, or if he was just taking his word for it.

No, he must remember. The old Ventus wouldn't take Vanitas's word for anything. And this Ventus… he wasn't the one Vanitas remembered.

It wasn't anything drastic. Vanitas didn't even know if he could explain if Aqua asked. But as they sat around one of Castle Oblivion's long kitchen tables, he watched his other half—his brother, if he'd have him—take in their stories with an unusual attentiveness. He didn't interrupt. He didn't ask a million questions. He just sat there and… absorbed.

Maybe he would've freaked out a bit more if Aqua and Vanitas had mentioned their relationship. But despite the fact that Ven had already seen them kiss, Aqua seemed hesitant to bring it up. Vanitas wasn't about to broach that without her support. It itched at him, the lingering fear that maybe she was ashamed of him after all—but he pushed it out of his mind. There was so much else to catch Ventus up on. Better not completely break his brain yet.

"Then we found Sora yesterday." Aqua nodded towards Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who were slurping up the last of their whatever-was-in-the-fridge stew. (Because the Castle couldn't generate new food or other organic material, Aqua had theorized.)

"And now we're here," Vanitas finished.

"Wow. I still can't believe… you were really stuck down there for twelve _years._ While I was just sleeping." He frowned down at his empty bowl. "You didn't deserve that."

"Well, it didn't exactly _feel_ like twelve years, at least," she replied quietly. Vanitas snorted. Maybe it hadn't felt that long, but that was only because they'd had no sense of time. Each "day" they slept and woke could've been an eternity.

"That's good, I guess…" Ventus was still avoiding her eyes.

"Spit it out," Vanitas said, pushing his empty bowl aside to lean his elbows on the table. "Something's still bothering you."

Ventus blinked, and his cheeks reddened. "You can tell?"

"I used to be you. And I'm not an idiot. So come on, what is it? You better not be feeling guilty for leaving Aqua down there by herself, because that was my fault." The admission hardly caused him pain anymore. He'd done what he could; he apologized and helped bring Ventus back. Everything else was in the past, where it could stay.

"Oh it's—not that. I mean, I'm still not happy you put me in a coma, but…" he shook his head. "It's about Terra."

Aqua winced. Vanitas wasn't surprised; it was only a matter of time before this question came up. Aqua had glossed over it when she'd recounted her dealings with the Organization, but she couldn't keep it hidden forever.

She rested a hand on Vanitas's arm. "I think I should talk about this with Ven alone."

He swallowed and nodded. "Of course. You probably want some time by yourself to catch up, too. Let me know when we're leaving."

The words came a bit rushed, and then he was dumping his bowl in the sink, escaping out the door and into an empty hallway. Breathing faster than he should be. Of course Aqua wanted to talk to her friend alone. She had every right to do that. Why had he panicked?

Maybe… because Ventus still hadn't forgiven him yet. He'd been so quiet… just staring at Vanitas with those stupid blue eyes, like he could see right through him…

 _That's a good thing. I don't have anything to hide._

Except the fact that he and Aqua were dating, but that hardly counted. It wasn't Ventus's business.

 _Why do I care what he thinks of me, anyway?_ He thought as he paced back and forth in the narrow hall. _I never cared before. Void, I_ wanted _him to hate me._

He sighed. _He_ was the one being stupid again. Of course he wanted to get along with Aqua's friends. And of course he didn't want his other half to hate him. Trying to build up a wall of anger wouldn't protect him anymore.

He had to face what he'd done, regardless of if Ventus forgave him or not.

Slowly, he brought his breathing back under control. The Unversed stopped rolling within him, itching to burst out. His heart calmed to a steady _thump, thump, thump._

And then there was nothing to do but wait. And wait.

And wait…

XXX

He jolted awake when footsteps echoed down the long hallway. When had he fallen asleep? His head was resting on the stomach of a small white Protector, so he must have at least had good dreams.

Ventus's laugh reached him before he was aware of much else. "Wow, you weren't kidding."

"I told you he's just a big softie." Aqua's voice said.

"Hey," Vanitas pouted, his voice still groggy. "I'm not soft. These abs are all steel."

He blinked sleep out of his eyes in time to watch Ventus snicker.

"Oh yeah, I totally see why you fell for him."

Now _that_ was enough to slam him back into consciousness. The Protector dissolved, giving him a brief flash of calm that kept him from panicking. But still, what had Aqua told Ventus? Had she… but then…

"You know?" He blurted, then stared at Aqua. "You told him?"

Pink dusted her cheeks. "I thought we agreed it wasn't a secret."

"Yeah, but… nevermind." He smiled in relief. Of course she'd told Ventus. And apparently, his other half had taken it alright, judging by his relaxed stance.

"I asked," he admitted. "I wanted to know if seeing you guys kiss was just a fever dream."

Vanitas laughed. "I told Aqua that would be one way to wake you up. Just kiss in front of you until you couldn't stand it."

She punched him as Ventus made a face.

"Thanks for _not_ doing that," he said to her.

"But you're okay? With us, and with… everything, I guess? I mean—wait, I haven't actually apologized yet—not for dating Aqua, that's the best thing that's ever happened to me, but for trying to kill you and use your heart to forge the X-Blade and working with Xehanort and—"

Ventus place a hand on his shoulder, mercifully stopping him from the embarrassing display. This wasn't anything like the collected words he'd said while Ventus was still asleep. Too bad he had no memory of that.

"It's okay." Ventus smiled. "I mean, what you did wasn't okay… but I know I've missed a lot. And since Aqua trusts you, I'm willing to give you a second chance."

A second chance. That was all he really wanted.

"Thank you, Ventus."

He'd said that before too. It felt different—more _real—_ now that his brother was awake.

"Call me Ven!" He moved his hand from Vanitas's shoulder to hold it in front of him. "Since we're starting over, right?"

"...Right." He hesitantly smiled before shaking _Ven's_ hand. Should he give him his nickname as well? Aqua was the only one who called him Van.

She was watching the two of them with fondness, and she flashed him a smile when he met her eyes.

"Call me Vanitas," he decided. He could always change his mind later, but for now he would keep his full name.

If Ven was disappointed by that, he didn't show it.

"I look forward to getting to know you, Vanitas."

Despite all the questions he still had—where Ven would stay, where he'd want to go, if he would still feel the same about Vanitas once he _did_ get to know him—Vanitas felt a strange sense of calm. Nothing had gone drastically wrong yet. He still had a chance to prove he was sincere about changing.

Maybe getting to know Ven wouldn't be so bad.

 **A/N: If you're looking for more of my fics with Vanitas and Aqua, Stroke of Midnight is now finished, and I'll be working on Contingency Plan as soon as I understand some more plot-related details of KHUX, haha. Thank you for reading this fic!**


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